



LIBRARY OF CONG RESS. 

Chap TK&&3. _ 

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PEESB2STTBD IB^ 

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UNITED STATES OF AMEBIOA. 

















































































































































































































































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GENERAL LAND OFFICEi 


UNITED STATES MINING LAWS, 


REGULATIONS THEREUNDER. 


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CIRCULAR OF OCTOBER 31,1881, INCLUDING CIRCULARS OF APRIL 27,1880, 
SEPTEMBER 23, 1880 AND LATER CIRCULARS. 














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UNITED STATES MINING LAWS, 

AND 

REGULATIONS THEREUNDER, 


Department of the Interior, 

General Land Office, 

October 29, 1881. 

Gentlemen : Your attention is invited to the Revised Statutes of 
the United States and the amendments thereto in regard to 

MINING LAWS AND MINING RESOURCES. 

Title xxxii, Chapter 6. 

Section 2318. In all cases lands valuable for minerals re ^j.^ al lands 

shall be reserved from sale, except as otherwise expressly — erv - e __ 

directed by law. leep.‘ 

Sec. 2319. All valuable mineral deposits in lands belong- 86. ’ ’ 
ing to the United States, both surveyed and unsurveyed, op^to^irchase 
are hereby declared to be free and open to exploration and b y citizens, 
purchase, and the lands in which they are found to occupa- io May, 1872, c. 
tion and purchase, by citizens of tiie United States and s -1 v - 17 * p - 

those who have declared their intention to become such, --- 

under regulations prescribed bylaw, and according to the 3 How.', i 2 o Gear ’ 
local customs or rules of miners in the several mining-dis¬ 
tricts, so far as the same are applicable afid not inconsistent 
with the laws of the United States. 

Sec. 2320. Mining claims upon veins or lodes of quartz Lengthofmin¬ 
or other rock in place bearing gold, silver, cinnabar, lead, ^emforTode? 011 
tin, copper, or other valuable deposits, heretofore located, 10Ma ' 1872 c 
shall be governed as to length along the. vein or lode by the 152, sT^fv. 17, p.‘ 
customs, regulations, and laws in force at the date of their 91 - 
location. A mining-claim located after the tenth day of 
May, eighteen hundred and seventy-two, whether located 
by one or more persons, may equal, but shall not exceed, 
one thousand five hundred feet in length along the vein or 
lode ; but no location of a mining-claim shall be made until 
the discovery of the vein or lode within the limits of the 
claim located. No claim shall extend more than three hun¬ 
dred feet on each side of the middle of the vein at the 
surface, nor shall any claim be limited by any mining regu¬ 
lation to less than twenty-five feet on each side of the 
middle of the vein at the surface, except where adverse 
rights existing on the tenth day of May, eighteen hundred / 

and seventy two, render such limitation necessary. The 
end-lines of each claim shall be parallel to each other. 

3 







4 


Proof of citi- Sec. 2321. Proof of citizenship, under this chapter, may 

zenship. _consist, in the case of an individual, of his own affidavit 

10May, 1872, c. thereof; in the case of an association of persons unincor- 
152 , s. 7 , v. 17 , p. p 0ra t e( j ? 0 f the affidavit of their authorized agent, made on 
his own knowledge, or upon information and belief; and in 
the case of a corporation organized under the laws of the 
United States, or of any State or Territory thereof, by the 
filing of a certified copy of their charter or certificate of 
incorporation. 

of J °os8e8Bion S and Sec. 2322. The locators of all mining locations hereto- 
en^yment° nant fore made or which shall hereafter be made, on any min- 
10 May, 1872 ,c. eral vein, lode, or ledge, situated on the public domain, 
152, s. 3 , v. 17 ,’p. tlieir heirs and assigns, where no adverse claim exists on the 
tenth day of May, eighteen hundred and seventy-two, so 
long as they comply with the laws of the United States, 
and with State, Territorial, and local regulations not in 
conflict with the laws of the United States governing their 
possessory title, shall have the exclusive right of possession 
and enjoyment of all the surface included within the lines 
of their locations, and of all veins, lodes, and ledges through¬ 
out their entire depth, the top or apex of which lies inside 
of such surface-lines extended downward vertically, although 
such veins, lodes, or ledges may so far depart from a per¬ 
pendicular in their course downward as to extend outside 
the vertical side-lines of such surface locations. But their 
right of possession to such outside parts of such veins or 
ledges shall be confined to such portions thereof as lie 
between vertical planes drawn downward as above de¬ 
scribed, through the end-lines of their locations, so contin¬ 
ued in their own direction that such planes will intersect 
such exterior parts of such veins or ledges. And nothing 
in this section shall authorize the locator or possessor of a 
vein or lode which extends in its downward course beyond 
the vertical lines of his claim to enter upon the surface of a 
claim owned or possessed by another. 
ne?8 W ri e ht8of Un ’ Sec. 2 ^23.. Where a tunnel is run for the development of 
ne s ’ n g 80 • a ve j n or i oc i e? or f or the discovery of mines, the owners of 
i5™^4, y v 18 i7!’p! such tunnel shall have the right of possession of all veins 
92.’ or lodes within three thousand feet from the face of such 

tunnel on the line thereof, not previously known to exist, 
discovered in such tunnel, to the same extent as if discov¬ 
ered from the surface; and locations on the line of such 
tunnel of veins or lodes not appearing on the surface, made 
by other parties after the commencement of the tunnel, and 
while the same is being prosecuted with reasonable dili¬ 
gence, shall be invalid; but failure to prosecute; the work 
on the tunnel for six months shall be considered as an aban¬ 
donment of the right to all undiscovered veins on the line 
of such tunnel. 

Regulations Sec. 2324. The miners of each mining-district may make 
ma e^mmers. re g U i a ti on s not in conflict with the laws of the United 
i 52 ^ 5 , y v!i 7 7 !’p‘ States, or with the 'laws of the State or Territory in which 
92. ’ ’ the district is situated, governing the location, manner of 

recording, amount of work necessary to hold possession of 
a mining-claim, subject to the following requirements: The 
location must be distinctly marked on the ground so that 






its boundaries can be readily traced. All records of mining- 
claims hereafter made shall contain the name or names of 
the locators, the date of the location, and such a descrip¬ 
tion of the claim or claims located by reference to some 
natural object or permanent monument as will identify the 
claim. On each claim located after the tenth day of May, 
eighteen hundred and seveuty-two, and until a patent has 
been issued therefor, not less than one hundred dollars’ 
worth of labor shall be performed or improvements made 
during each year. On all claims located prior to the tenth 
day of May, eighteen hundred and seventy-two, ten dollars’ 
worth of labor shall be performed or improvements made 
by the tenth day of June, eighteen hundred and seventy- 
four, aud each year thereafter, for each one hundred feet in 
length along the vein until a patent has been issued there¬ 
for ; but where such claims are held in common, such ex¬ 
penditure may be made upon any one claim; .and upon a 
failure to comply with these conditions, the claim or mine 
upon which such failure occurred shall be open to relocation 
in the same manner as if no location of the same had ever 
been made, provided that the original locators, their heirs, 
assigns, or legal representatives, liave not resumed work 
upon the claim after failure and before such location. Upon 
the failure of any one of several co-owners to contribute his 
proportion of the expenditures required hereby, the co-own¬ 
ers who have performed the labor or made the improve¬ 
ments may, at the expiration of the year, give such delin¬ 
quent co-owner personal notice in writing, or notice by 
publication in tbe newspaper published nearest the claim, 
for at least once a week for ninety days, and if at the ex- 
piratiou of ninety days after such notice in writing or 
by publication such delinquent should fail or refuse to con¬ 
tribute his proportion of the expenditure required by this 
section, his interest in the claim shall become the property 
of his co-owners who have made the required expendi¬ 
tures. 

Sec. 2325. A patent for any land claimed aud located for 
valuable deposits may be obtained in the following manner: 
Any person, association, or corporation authorized to locate 
a claim under this chapter, having claimed and located a 
piece of laud for such purposes, who lias, or have, complied 
with the terms of this chapter, may tile in the proper land- 
office an application for a patent, under oath, showing such 
compliance, together with a plat and field-notes of the claim 
or claims in common, made by or under the direction of the 
United States Surveyor General, showiug accurately the 
boundaries of the claim or claims, which shall be distinctly 
marked by monuments on the ground, and shall post a copy 
of such plat, together with a notice of such application for 
a patent, in a conspicuous place on the land embraced in 
such plat previous to the filing of the application for a pat¬ 
ent, and shall file an affidavit of at least two persons that 
such notice has been duly posted, and shall file a copy of 
the notice in such land office, and shall thereupon be enti¬ 
tled to a patent for the land, in the manner following : The 
register of the land-office, upon the filing of such applica- 


Patents for 
mineral lands, 
how obtained. 


10 May, 1872, c* 
152, s. 6, v. 17, p 
92. 



6 


Adverse claim 
proceedings on. 


10 May, 1872, c 
152, s. 7,'v. 17, p 
93. 


tion, plat, field-notes, notices, and affidavits, shall publish a 
notice that such application has been made, for the period 
of sixty days, in a newspaper to be by him designated as 
published nearest to such claim) and he shall also post such 
notice in his office for the same period. The claimant at 
the time of filing this application, or at any time thereafter,, 
within the sixty days of publication, shall file with the reg¬ 
ister a certificate of the United States surveyor-general that 
five hundred dollars’ worth of labor has been expended or 
improvements made upon the claim by himself or grantors ; 
that the plat is correct, with such farther description by 
such reference to natural objects or permanent monuments 
as shall identify the claim, and furnish an accurate descrip¬ 
tion, to be incorporated in the patent. At the expiration 
of the sixty days of publication the claimant shall file his 
affidavit, showing that the plat and notice have been posted 
in a conspicuous place on the claim during such period of 
publication. If no adverse claim shall have been filed with 
the register and the receiver of the proper land-office at the 
expiration of the sixty days of publication, it shall be as¬ 
sumed that the applicant is entitled to a patent, upon the 
payment to the proper officer of five dollars per acre, and 
that no adverse claim exists: and thereafter no objection 
from third parties to the issuance of a patent shall be heard, 
except it be shown that the applicant has failed to comply 
with the terms of this chapter. 

, Sec. 2326. Where an adverse claim is filed during the 
. period of publication, it shall be upon oath of the person or 
• persons making the same, and shall show the nature, bound- 
‘ aries, and extent of such adverse claim, and all proceedings, 
except the publication of notice and making and filing of 
the affidavit thereof, shall be stayed until the controversy 
shall have been settled or decided by a court of competent 
jurisdiction, or the adverse claim waived. It shall be the 
duty of the adverse claimant, within thirty days after filing 
his claim, to commence proceedings in a court of competent 
jurisdiction, to determine the question of the right of pos¬ 
session, and prosecute the same with reasonable diligence 
to final judgment; and a failure so to do shall be a waiver 
of his adverse claim. After such judgment shall have been 
rendered, the party entitled to the possession of the claim, 
or any portion thereof, may, without giving further notice, 
file a certified copy of the judgment-roll with the register of 
the land office, together with the certificate of the surveyor- 
general that the requisite amount of labor has been ex¬ 
pended or improvements made thereon, and the description 
required in other cases, and shall pay to the receiver five 
dollars per acre for his claim, together with the proper fees, 
whereupon the whole proceedings and the judgment-roll 
shall be certified by the register to the Commissioner of the 
General Land Office, and a patent shall issue thereon for 
the claim, or such portion thereof as the applicant shall 
appear, from the decision of the court, to rightly possess. 
If it appears from the decision of the court that several 
parties are entitled to separate and different portions of 
the claim, each party may pay for his portion of the claim 



7 


with the proper fees, and file the certificate and descrip¬ 
tion by the surveyor-general, whereupon the register shall 
certify the proceedings and judgment-roll to the Com¬ 
missioner of the General Laud Office, as in the preceding 
case, and patents shall issue to the several parties accord¬ 
ing to their respective rights. Nothing herein contained 
shall be construed to prevent the alienation of a title con¬ 
veyed by a patent for a mining-claim to any person what¬ 
ever. 

Sec. 2327. The description of vein or lode claims, upon Description of 
surveyed lands, shall designate the location of the claim lurveyed^dun 1 - 
with reference to the lines of the public surveys, but need surveyed lands, 
not conform therewith 5 but where a patent shall be issued 10 May, m 2 , c. 
for claims upon unsurveyed lands, the surveyor general, 8 - 8 - v - 17> p* 
in extending the surveys, shall adjust the same to the 
boundaries of such patented claim, according to the plat or 
description thereof, but so as in no case to interfere with 
or change the location of any such patented claim. 

Sec. 2328. Applications for patents for mining-claims Pending appii. 
under former laws now pending may be prosecuted to a final rights . 81 exl8tlng 
decision in the General Land Office; but in such cases,' i 0 May m 2 c 
where adverse rights are not affected thereby, patents may 152, s. 9; v. 17,’p! 
issue in pursuance of the provisions of this chapter; and 94, 
all patents for mining-claims upon veins or lodes hereto¬ 
fore issued shall convey all the rights and privileges con¬ 
ferred by this chapter where no adverse rights existed on 
the tenth day of May, eighteen hundred and seventy-two. 

Sec. 2329. Claims usually called “placers,” including all ^onformay of 
forms of deposit, excepting veins of quartz or other rock surveys, limit 0? 
in place, shall be subject to entry and patent, under like " 9 j u i y "mo^ 
circumstances and conditions, and upon similar proceed- 235, s. 12,’v. i6| p! 
ings, as are provided for vein or lode claims; but where 317, 
the lands have been previously surveyed by the United 
States, the entry in its exterior limits shall conform to the 
legal subdivisions^ of the public lands. 

Sec. 2130. Legal subdivisions of forty acres may be sub- Subdivisions of 
divided into ten-acre tracts; and two or more persons, orpi|i 
associations of persons, having contiguous claims of any cerlocations, 
size, although such claims may be less than ten acres each, 9 July, mo, c. 
may make joint entry thereof; but no location of a placer- s - 12 > v - 16 > p- 
claim, made after the ninth day of July, eighteen hundred” ' 
and seventy, shall exceed one hundred and sixty acres for 
any one person or association of persons, which location 
shall conform to the United States surveys; and nothing 
in this section contained shall defeat or impair any bona 
fide pre-emption or homestead claim upon agricultural 
lands, or authorize the sale of the improvements of any 
bona fide settler to any purchaser. 

Sec. 2331. Where placer claims are upon surveyed lands, Conformity of 
and conform to legal subdivisions, no further survey or surveys; limita- 
plat shall be required, and all placer-mining claims located tion of claims - 
after the tenth day of May, eighteen hundred and seventy- i°May, ,im, c. 
two, shall conform as near as practicable with the United 94 / 8 ' ,v ' lP ‘ 
States system of public land surveys, and the rectangular 
subdivisions of such surveys, and no such location shall in¬ 
clude more than twenty acres for each individual claimant; 







8 


What evidence 
of possession, 
&c.,to establish a 
right to a patent. 

9 July, 1870, c. 
235, s. 13, v. 16, p. 
217. 


Proceedings for 
patent for placer- 
claim,|^&c. 

10 Mav, 1872, c. 
152,*s. 11, v. 17, p. 
94. 


Surveyor-gen¬ 
eral to appoint 
surveyors of min¬ 
ing-claims, &c. 


lO.May, 1872, c. 
152, s. 12, v. 17, p. 
95. 


but where placer-claims cannot be conformed to legal sub¬ 
divisions, survey and plat shall be made as on unsurveyed 
lands; and where by the segregation of mineral lands in 
any legal subdivision a quantity of agricultural land less 
than forty acres remains, such fractional portion of agricult¬ 
ural land may be entered, by any party qualified by law, 
for homestead or pre-emption purposes. 

Sec. 2332. Where such person or association, they and 
their grantors, have held and worked their claims for a 
period equal to the time prescribed by the statute of limita¬ 
tions tor mining-claims of the State or Territory where the 
same may be situated, evidence of such possession and' 
working of the claims for such period shall be sufficient to 
establish a right to a patent thereto under this chapter, in 
the absence of any adverse claim; but nothing in this 
chapter shall be deemed to impair any lien which may 
have attached in any way whatever to any mining-claim 
or property thereto attached prior to the issuance of a 
patent. 

Sec. 2333. Where the same person, association, or cor¬ 
poration is in possession of a placer-claim, and also a vein 
or lode included within the boundaries thereof, application 
shall be made for a patent for the placer-claim, with the. 
statement that it includes such vein or lode, and in such 
case a patent shall issue for the placer-claim, subject to the 
provisions of this chapter, including such vein or lode, upon 
the payment of five dollars per acre for such vein or lode 
claim, and twenty-five feet of surface on each side thereof. 
The remainder of the placer-claim, or any placer-claim not 
embracing any vein or lode claim, shall be paid for at the 
rate of two dollars and fifty cents per acre, together with 
all costs of proceedings; and where a vein or lode, such as 
is described in section twenty-three hundred and twenty, is 
known to exist within the boundaries of a placer-claim, an 
application for a patent for such placer-claim which does 
not include an application for the vein or lode claim shall 
be construed as a conclusive declaration that the claimant 
of the placer-claim has no right of possession of the vein or 
lode claim; but where the existence of a vein or lode in a 
placer-claim is not known, a patent for the placer claim shall 
convey all valuable mineral and other deposits within the 
boundaries thereof. 

Sec. 2334. The surveyor-general of the United States 
may appoint in each land district containing mineral lands 
as many competent surveyors as shall apply for appoint¬ 
ment to survey mining-claims. The expenses of the survey 
of vein or lode claims, and the survey and subdivision of 
placer-claims into smaller quantities than one hundred and 
sixty acres, together with the cost of publication of notices, 
shall be paid by the applicants, and they shall be at liberty 
to obtain the same at the most reasonable rates, and they 
shall also be at liberty to employ any United States deputy 
surveyor to make the survey. The Commissioner of the 
General Land Office shall also have power to establish the 
maximum charges for surveys and publication of notices 
under this chapter; and, in case ot excessive charges for 



9 


publication, he may designate any newspaper published in 
a land-district where mines are situated for the publication 
of mining notices in such district, and fix the rates to be 
charged by such paper; and, to the end that the Commis¬ 
sioner may be fully informed on the subject, each applicant 
shall file with the register a sworn statement of all charges 
and fees paid by such applicant for publication and sur¬ 
veys, together with all fees and money paid the register and 
the receiver of the land-office, which statement shall be trans¬ 
mitted, with the other papers in the case, to the Commis¬ 
sioner of the General Land Office. 

Skc. 2335. All affidavits required to be made under this verification of 
chapter may be verified before any officer authorized to ^d- affidav it8 ’ &c ' 
minister oaths within the land district where the claims 15 2 ° s M iY v 8 ??’ °‘ 
may be situated, and all testimony and proofs may be taken 95.’ 8 ‘ ’ v ' ’ p ‘ 
before any such officer, and, when duly certified by the 
officer taking the same, shall have the same force and effect 
as if taken before the register and receiver of the land- 
office. In cases of contest as to the mineral or agricultural 
character of the land, the testimony and proofs may be 
taken as herein provided on personal notice of at least ten 
days to the opposing party; or if such party cannot be 
found, then by publication of at least once a week for thirty 
days in a newspaper, to be designated by the register of 
the land office as published nearest to the location of such 
land ; and the register shall require proof that such notice 
has been given. 

Sec. 2336. Where two or more veins intersect or cross & ™ in8 

each other, priority of title shall govern; and such prior 1 -- 618 —- — 
location shall be entitled to all ore or mineral contained 
within the space of intersection; but the subsequent loca-96.’ 
tion shall have the right of way through the space of inter¬ 
section for the purposes of the convenient working of the 
mine. And where two or more veins unite, the oldest or 
prior location shall take the vein below the point of union, 
including all the space of intersection. 

Sec. 2337. Where non-mineral land not contiguous to the n mineral 

vein or lode is used or occupied by the proprietor of such land, &c. 
vein or lode for mining or milling purposes, such non adja- bo May, 1872, <*.. 
cent surface ground may be embraced and included in an Jjp, 8 ^ v - 17 ,p’ 
application for a patent for such vein or lode, and the same 
may be patented therewith, subject to the same preliminary 
requirements as to survey and notice as are applicable to 
veins or lodes; but no location hereafter made of such lion- 
adjacent land shall exceed five acres, and payment for the 
same must be made at the same rate as fixed by this chap¬ 
ter for the superficies of the lode. The owner of a quartz- 
mill or reduction-works, not owning a mine in connection 
therewith, may also receive a patent for his mill-site, as 
provided in this section. 

.Sec. 2338. As a condition of sale, in the absence of nec " 
essary legislation by Congress, the local legislature of any be made bj T local 
State or Territory may provide rules for working mines, legislature, 
involving easements, drainage, and other necessary means 26 Juiy,i866,c. 
to their complete development; amUbose conditions shall HI ] 8 • 5 ’ v - 14, p - 
be fully expressed in the patent. 



10 


vested rights g E c. 2339. Whenever, by priority of possession, rights to 
for mining, &c. ; the use of water for mining, agricultural, manufacturing, or 
camu 9 of way for °^ er purposes, have vested and accrued, and the same are 

— - recognized and acknowledged by the local customs, laws, 

262 ^ j uiy\ i.866,^c. an( j t p e d ec i s i ons 0 f courts, the possessors and owners of 
253 ’ such vested rights shall be maintained and protected in the 

same; and the right of way for the construction of ditches 
and canals for the purposes herein specified is acknowl¬ 
edged and confirmed; but whenever any person, in the 
construction of any ditch or canal, injures or damages the 
possession of any settler on the public domain, the party 
committing such injury or damage shall be liable to the 
party injured for such injury or damage. 

Patents, pre- Sec. 2340. All patents granted, or pre-emption or home- 
homes°teads a sub d steads allowed, shall be subject to any vested and accrued 
ject to vested and water-rights, or rights to ditches and reservoirs used in con- 
rfght 8 edwatei section with such water-rights, as may have been acquired 
~ 9 Jui 1870 c uuc ^ er or recognized by the preceding section. 

235 , s. 17, v. 16 , p! Sec. 2341. Wherever, upon the lauds heretofore desig- 
21 Minerai lands na ^ as mineral lands, which have been excluded from 
in which no vaiu-survey and sale, there have been homesteads made by cit- 
SovTredfopenize^s of the United States, or persons who have declared 
to homestead s, their intention to become citizens, which homesteads have 
262 6 8 Tu ifv 8 r 4 ’p! been made, improved, and used for agricultural purposes, 
253 ’ and upon which there have been no valuable mines of gold, 

silver, cinnabar, or copper discovered, and which are prop¬ 
erly agricultural lands, the settlers or owners of such home¬ 
steads shall have a right of pre-emption thereto, and shall 
be entitled to purchase the same at the price of one dollar 
and twenty-five cents per acre, and in quantity not to ex¬ 
ceed one hundred and sixty acres ; or they may avail them¬ 
selves of the provisions of chapter five of this Title, relating 
to “ Homesteads.” 

Mineral lands, Sec. 2342. Upon the survey of the lands described in the 
a°Tic^u i tiira i pr ece ding section, the Secretary of the Interior may desig- 
lands cu ura nate and set apart such portions of the same as are clearly 
26 July, 1866, e. agricultural lands, which lands shall thereafter be subject to 
262 , s. ii,’v.u,’p. pre-emption and sale as other public lands, and be subject 
to all the laws and regulations applicable to the same. 
Additional Sec. 2343. The President is authorized to establish ad- 
in^ ditional land-districts, and to appoint the necessary officers 

er of the Presi under existing laws, wherever lie may deem the same neces- 
TeVuiy^iseem sar y for tlie public convenience in executing the provisions 
262 , s. 7," V. 14,’p.' of this chapter. 

25 provisions of Sec. 2344. Nothing contained in this chapter shall be 
t^atfect^certain ^^mstrued to impair, in any way, rights or interests in min- 
rfghts 60 cer am ing property acquired under existing laws ; nor to affect the 
10 May, 1872 , c- provisions of the act entitled “An act grranting to A. Sutro 
152, S. 16 , v. i7,’ P . the right of way and other privileges to aid in the construc- 
9 July, mo, c. tion of a draining and exploring tunnel to the Comstock 
235 , s. 17 , v. 16 , p. j 0( j e , in the State of Nevada,” approved July twenty-five, 
eighteen hundred and sixty-six. 

Mineral lands Sec. 2345. The provisions of the preceding sections of 
excepted States this chapter shall not apply to the mineral lands situated 
"" is f h 1873 ~ iu tbe States of Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota, which 
i59,v.i7,p.465. c are declared free and open to exploration and purchase 









11 


according to legal subdivisions, in like manner as before 
the tenth day of May, eighteen hundred and seventy-two. 

And any bona fide entries of such lands within the States 
named since the tenth of May, eighteen hundred and sev¬ 
enty-two, may be patented without reference to any of the 
foregoing provisions of this chapter. Such lands shall be 
offered for public sale in the same manner, at the same min¬ 
imum price, and under the same rights of pre-emption as 
other public lands. 

Sec. 2346. No act passed at the first session of the thirty- Grants of lands 
eighth Congress, granting lands to States or corporations poSns nofto 
to aid in the construction of roads, or for other purposes, or include mineral 

to extend the time of grants made prior to the thirtieth day - n —- 

of January, eighteen hundred and sixty-five, shall be so B NoHo, v?i 3 ’ 
construed as to embrace mineral lands, which in all cases p- 567. 
are reserved exclusively to the Uuited States, unless other¬ 
wise specially provided in the act or acts making the 
grant. 


REPEAL PROVISIONS. 

• Title lxxiv. 

Sec. 5595. The foregoing seventy-three titles embrace what Revised 
the statutes of the United States general and permanent in ®J a a C e Ute8 em 

their nature, in force on the 1st day of December, one thou- —— : - 

sand eight hundred and seventy-three, as revised and con¬ 
solidated by commissioners appointed under an act of Con¬ 
gress, and the same shall be designated and cited as The 
Revised Statutes of the United States. 

Sec. 5596. All acts of Congress passed prior to said first Repeal of acts 
day of December, one thousand eight hundred and seventy- v^n. 0 ^ m re 
three, any portion of which is embraced in any section of 
said revision, are hereby repealed, and the section applica¬ 
ble thereto shall be in force in lieu thereof; all parts of 
such acts not contained in such revision, having been re¬ 
pealed or superseded by subsequent acts, or not being gen¬ 
eral and permanent in their nature: Provided , That the 
incorporation into such revision of any general and perma¬ 
nent provision, taken from an act making appropriations, 
or from an act containing other provisions of a private, local 
or temporary character, shall not repeal, or in any way 
affect any appropriation, or any provision of a private, local, 
or temporary character, contained in any of said acts, but 
the same shall remain in force; and all acts of Congress 
passed prior to said last-named day no part of which are 
embraced in said revision, shall not be affected or changed 
by its enactments. 

Sec. 5597. The repeal of the several acts embraced in Accrued rights 

said revision, shall not affect any act done, or any right reserye ‘ - 

accruing or accrued, or any suit or proceeding had or com¬ 
menced in any civil cause before the Said repeal, but all 
rights and liabilities under said acts shall continue, and 
may be enforced in the same manner, as if said repeal had 
not been made; nor shall said repeal, in any manner affect 
the right to any office, or change the term or tenure thereof. 






12 


prosecutions Sec. 5598. All offenses committed and all penalties or 
ments p u n 18 forfeitures incurred under any statute embraced in said re¬ 
vision prior to said repeal, may be prosecuted and punished 
in the same manner and with the same effect, as if said 
repeal had not been made. 

Acts of linaita- Sec. 5599. All acts of limitation, whether applicable to 

tloa :_ civil causes and proceedings, or to the prosecution of 

offenses, or for the recovery of penalties or forfeitures, em¬ 
braced in said revision and covered by said repeal, shall 
not be affected thereby, but all suits, proceedings or prose¬ 
cutions, whether civil or criminal, for causes arising, or acts 
done or committed prior to said repeal, may be commenced 
and prosecuted within the same time as if said repeal had 
not been made. 

audciasSficatiou Sec. 5600. The arrangement and classification of the sev- 
of'sections^ 1<>n eral sections of the revision have been made for the purpose 
of a more convenient afnd orderly arrangement of the same, 
and therefore no inference or presumption of a legislative 
construction is to be drawn by reason of the Title, under 
which any particular section is placed, 
since Deo iTst? ®ec. The enactment of the said revision is not to 
not affected. ’ affect or repeal any act of Congress passed since the 1st day 
of December, one thousand eight hundred and seventy- 
three, and all acts passed since that date are to have full 
effect as if passed after the enactment of this revision, and 
so far as such acts vary from, or conflict with any provision 
contained in said revision, they are to have effect as subse¬ 
quent statutes, and as repealing any portion of the revision 
inconsistent therewith. 

Approved, June 22, 1874. 

The following is an act of Congress approved June 6, 
1874: 

AN ACT to amend the act entitled “An act to promote the develop¬ 
ment of the mining resources of the United States,” passed May tenth, 
eighteen hundred and seventy-two. 

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
the United States of America in Congress assembled , That the 
provisions of the fifth section of the act entitled “An act to 
promote the development of the mining resources of the 
United States,” passed May tenth, eighteen hundred and 
seventy-two, which requires expenditures of labor and im¬ 
provements on claims located prior to the passage of said 
act, are hereby so amended that the time for the first annual 
expenditure on claims located prior to the passage of said 
act shall be extended to the first day of January, eighteen 
hundred and seventy-five. 

The following is an act of Congress approved Februarv 
11, 1875: J 

AN ACT to amend section two thousand three hundred aud twenty-four 
of the Revised Statutes, relating to the development of the minino¬ 
resources of the United States. 

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
the United States of America in Congress assembled, That sec¬ 
tion two thousand three hundred and twenty-four of the 



13 


Revised Statutes be, and the same is hereby amended so 
that where a person or company has or may run a tunnel 
for the purposes of developing a lode or lodes, owned by 
said person or company, the money so expended in said tun¬ 
nel shall be taken and considered as expended on said lode 
or lodes, whether located prior to or since the passage of 
said act, and such person or company shall not be required 
to perform work on the surface of said lode or lodes in order 
to hold the same as required by said act. 

The following is an act of Congress approved May 5,1876: 

AN ACT to exclude the States of Missouri and Kansas from the provis¬ 
ions of the, act of Congress entitled “ An act to promote the devel¬ 
opment of the mining resources of the United States,” approved May 
tenth, eighteen hundred and seventy-two. 

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
the United States of America in -Congress assembled , That 
within the States of Missouri and Kansas deposits of coal, 
iron, lead, or other mineral be, and they are hereby, ex¬ 
cluded from the operation of the act entitled “An act to 
promote the development of the mining resources of the 
United States,” approved May tenth, eighteen hundred and 
seventy-two, and all lands in said States shall be subject to 
disposal as agricultural lands. 

The following is an act of Congress approved June 3,1878: 

AN ACT authorizing the citizens of Colorado, Nevada, and the Terri¬ 
tories to fell and remove timber on the public domain for mining and 
domestic purposes. 

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
the United States of America in Congress assembled , That all 
citizens of the United States and other persons, bona fide 
residents of the State of Colorado or Nevada, or either of 
the Territories of New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, Wyoming, 
Dakota, Idaho, or Montana, and all other mineral districts 
of the United States, shall be and are hereby, authorized 
and permitted to fell and remove, for building, agricultural, 
mining, or other domestic purposes, any timber or other 
trees growing or being on the public lands, said lands being 
mineral, and not subject to entry under existing laws of the 
United States, except for mineral entry, in either of said 
States, Territories, or districts of which such citizens or per¬ 
sons may be at the time bona fide residents, subject to such 
rules and regulations as the Secretary of the Interior may 
prescribe for the protection of the timber and of the under¬ 
growth growing upon such lauds, and for other purposes: 
Provided , The provisions of this act shall not extend to rail¬ 
road corporations. 

Sec. 2 . That it shall be the duty of the register and the 
receiver of any local land-office in whose district any min¬ 
eral land may be situated to ascertain from time to time 
whether any timber is being cut or used upon any such 
lands, except for the purposes authorized by this act, 
within their respective land districts; and, if so, they shall 
immediately notify the Commissioner of the General Land 
Office of that fact; and all necessary expenses incurred in 


14 


making such proper examinations shall be paid and allowed 
such register and receiver in making up their next quarterly 
accounts. 

Sec. 3. Any person or persons who shall violate the pro¬ 
visions of this act, or any rules and regulations in pursuance 
thereof made by the Secretary of the Interior, shall be 
deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and, upon conviction, 
shall be fined in any sum not exceeding five hundred dol¬ 
lars, and to which may be added imprisonment for any 
term not exceeding six months. 

The following is an act of Congress approved January 
22 , 1880: 

AN ACT to amend sections twenty-three hundred and twenty-four and 
twenty-three hundred and twenty-five of the Revised Statutes of the 
United States concerning mineral lands. 

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
the United States of America in Congress assembled , That 
section twenty-three hundred and twenty-five of the Re¬ 
vised Statutes of the United States be .amended by adding 
thereto the following words: u Provided , That where the 
claimant for a patent is not a resident of or within the land- 
district wherein the vein, lode, ledge, or deposit sought to 
be patented is located, the application for patent and the 
affidavits required to be made in this section by the claim¬ 
ant for such patent may be made by his, her, or its author¬ 
ized agent, where said agent is conversant with the facts 
sought to be established by said affidavits : And provided. 
That this section shall apply to all applications now pend¬ 
ing for patents to mineral lands.” 

Sec. 2. That section twenty-three hundred and twenty- 
four of the Revised Statutes of the United States be 
amended by adding the following words: u Provided , 
That the period within which the work required to be done 
annually on all unpatented mineral claims shall commence 
on the first day of January succeeding the date of location 
of such claim, and this section shall apply to all claims 
located since the tenth day of May, anno Domini eighteen 
hundred and seventy-two.” 

The following is an act of Congress approved March 3, 
1881: 

AN ACT to amend section twenty-tliree hundred and twenty-six of the 
Revised Statutes relating to suits at law alfecting the title to mining- 
claims. 

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
the United States of America in Congress assembled , That if, 
in any action brought pursuant to section twenty-three 
hundred and twenty-six of the Revised Statutes, title to the 
ground in controversy shall not be established by either 
party, the jury shall so find, and judgment shall be entered 
according to the verdict. In such case costs shall not be 
allowed to either party, and the claimant shall not proceed 
in the laud-office or be entitled to a patent for the ground 
in controversy until he shall have perfected his title. 


15 


MINERAL LANDS OPEN TO EXPLORATION, OCCUPATION, AND PUR¬ 
CHASE. 

1 . It will be perceived that by the foregoing provisions of law the 
mineral lands in the public domain, surveyed or unsurveyed, are open 
to exploration, occupation, and purchase, by all citizens of the United 
States and all those who have declared their intention to become such, 

STATUS OF LODE-CLAIMS LOCATED PRIOR TO MAY 10, 1872. 

2 . By an examination of the several sections of the Revised Statutes 
it will be seen that the status of lode-claims located previous to the 10th 
May, 1872, is not changed with regard to their extent along the lode or 
width of surface. 

3. Mining rights acquired under such previous locations are, how¬ 
ever, enlarged by said Revised Statutes in the following respect, viz: 
The locators of all such previously taken veins or lodes, their heirs and 
assigns, so long as they comply with the laws of Congress and with 
State, Territorial, or local regulations not in conflict therewith, govern¬ 
ing mining-claims, are invested with the exclusive possessory right of 
all the surface included within the lines of their locations, and of all 
veins, lodes, or ledges throughout their entire depth, the top or apex of 
which lies inside of such surface-lines extended downward vertically, 
although such veins, lodes, or ledges may so far depart from a perpendic¬ 
ular in their course downward as to extend outside the vertical side-lines 
of such locations at the surface, it being expressly provided, however, 
that the right of possession to such outside parts of said veins or ledges 
shall be confined to such portions thereof as lie between vertical planes 
drawn downward as aforesaid, through the end lines of their locations 
so continued in their own direction that such planes will intersect such 
exterior parts of such veins, lodes, or ledges; no right being granted, 
however, to the claimant of such outside portion of a vein or ledge to 
enter upon the surface location of another claimant. 

4. It is to be distinctly understood, however, that the law limits the 
possessory right to veins, lodes, or ledges, other than the one named in 
the original location, to such as were not adversely claimed on May 10 , 
1872, and that where such other vein or ledge was so adversely claimed 
at that date, the right of the party so adversely claiming is in no way 
impaired by the provisions of the Revised Statutes. 

5. In order to hold the possessory title to a mining-claim located prior 
to May 10, 1872, and for which a patent has not been issued, the law 
requires that ten dollars shall be expended annually in labor or improve¬ 
ments on each claim of one hundred feet on the course ot the vein or 
lode until a patent shall have been issued therefor; but where a number 
of such claims are held in common upon the same vein or lode the aggre¬ 
gate expenditure that would be necessary to hold all the claims, at the 
rate of ten dollars per hundred feet, may be made upon any one claim; 
a failure to comply with this requirement in any one year subjecting 
the claim upon which such failure occurred to relocation by other par¬ 
ties, the same as if no previous location thereof had ever been made, 
unless the claimants under the original location shall have resumed 
work thereon after such failure and before such relocation. The first 
annual expenditure upon claims of this class should have been per¬ 
formed subsequent to May 10, 1872, and prior to January 1, 1875. 
From and after January 1,1875, the required amount must be expended 
annually until patent issues. By decision of the honorable Secretary of 


16 


the Interior, dated March 4,1879, such annual expenditures are not re¬ 
quired subsequent to entry, the date of issuing the patent certificate 
being the date contemplated by statute. 

6 . Upon the failure of any one of several co-owners of a vein, lode, or 
ledge, which lias not been eutered, to contribute his proportion of the 
expenditures necessary to hold the claim or claims so held in ownership 
in common, the co-owners who have performed the labor, or made the 
improvements, as required by said Revised Statutes, may, at the expira¬ 
tion of the year, give such delinquent co-owner personal notice in writ¬ 
ing, or notice by publication in the newspaper published nearest the 
claim, for at least once a week for ninety days; and if upon the expira¬ 
tion of ninety days after such notice in writing, or upon the expiration 
of one hundred and eighty days after the first newspaper publication of 
notice, the delinquent co owner shall have failed to contribute his pro¬ 
portion to meet such expenditures or improvements, his interest in the 
claim by law passes to his co-owners, who have made the expenditures 
or improvements as aforesaid. Where a claimant alleges ownership of 
a forfeited interest under the foregoing provision, the sworn statement 
of the publisher as to the facts of publication, giviug dates and a printed 
copy of the notice published, should be furnished, and the claimant 
must swear that the delinquent co-owner failed to contribute his proper 
proportion within the period fixed by the statute. 

PATENTS FOR VEINS OR LODES HERETOFORE ISSUED. 

7. Rights under patents for veins or lodes heretofore granted under 
previous legislation of Congress are enlarged by the Revised Statutes 
so as to invest the patentee, his heirs or assigns, with title to all veins, 
lodes, or ledges, throughout their entire depth, the top or apex of which 
lies within the end and side boundary lines of his claim on the surface, 
as patented, extended downward vertically, although such veins, lodes, 
or ledges may so far departfrom a perpendicular in their course down¬ 
ward as to extend outside the vertical side-lines of the claim at the sur¬ 
face. The right of possession to such outside parts of such veins or 
ledges to be confined to such portions thereof as lie between vertical 
planes drawn downward through the end lines of the claims at the sur¬ 
face, so continued in their own direction that such planes will intersect 
such exterior parts of such veins or ledges, it being expressly provided, 
however, that all veins, lodes, or ledges, the top or apex of which lies 
inside such surface locations, other than the one named in the patent, 
which were adversely claimed on the 10 tli May , 1872, are excluded from 
such conveyance by patent. 

8 . Applications for patents for mining-claims pending at the date of 
the act of May 10,1872, may be prosecuted to final decision in the Gen¬ 
eral Land Office, and where no adverse rights are affected thereby, 
patents will be issued in pursuance of the provisions of the Revised 
Statutes. 

MANNER OF LOCATING CLAIMS ON VEINS OR LODES AFTER MAY 10, 

1872. 

9. From and after the 10th May, 1872, any person who is a citizen of 
the United States or who has declared his intention to become a citizen, 
may locate, record, and hold a mining claim of fifteen hundred linear 
feet along the course of any mineral vein or lode subject to location ; or 
an association of persons, severally qualified as above, may make joint 


17 


location of such claim of fifteen hundred feet, but in no event can a loca¬ 
tion of a vein or lode made subsequent to May 10, 1872, exceed fifteen 
hundred feet along the course thereof, whatever may be the number of 
persons composing the association. 

10 . With regard to the extent of surface-ground adjoining a vein or 
lode, and claimed for the convenient working thereof, the Revised Stat¬ 
utes provide that the lateral extent of locations of veins or lodes made 
after May 10, 1872, shall in no case exceed three hundred feet on each side 
of the middle of the vein at the surface , and that no such surface rights 
shall be limited by any mining regulations to less than twenty-five feet 
on each side of the middle of the vein at the surface, except where ad¬ 
verse rights existing on the 10th May, 1872, may render such limitation 
necessary; the end-lines of such claims to be in all cases parallel to 
each other. Said lateral measurements cannot extend beyond three 
hundred feet on either side of the middle of the vein at the surface, or 
such distance as is allowed by local laws. For example: 400 feet can¬ 
not be taken on one side and 200 feet on the other, if, however, 300 
feet on each side are allowed, and by reason of prior claims but 100 feet 
can be taken on one side, the locator will not be restricted to less than 
300 feet on the other side; and when the locator does not determine by 
exploration ichere the middle of the vein at the surface is, his discovery 
shaft must be assumed to mark such point. 

11. By the foregoing it will be perceived that no lode-claim located 
after the 10th May, 1872, can exceed a parallelogram fifteen hundred 
feet in length by six hundred feet in width, but whether surface-ground 
of that width can be taken, depends upon the local regulations or State 
or Territorial laws in force in the several mining-districts; and that no 
such local regulations or State or Territorial laws shall limit a vein or 
lode claim to less than fifteen hundred feet along the course thereof, 
whether the location is made by one or more persons, nor can surface 
rights be limited to less than fifty feet in width, unless adverse claims 
existing on the 10th day of May, 1872, render such lateral limitation 
necessary. 

12. It is provided by the Revised Statutes that the miners of each 
district may make rules aud regulations not in conflict with the laws of 
the United States, or of the State or Territory in which such districts 
are respectively situated, governing the location, manner of recording, 
and amount of work necessary to hold possession of a claim. They like¬ 
wise require that the location shall be so distinctly marked on the ground 
that its boundaries may be readily traced. This is a very important 
matter, and locators cannot exercise too much care in defining their 
locations at the outset, inasmuch as the law requires that all records of 
mining locations made subsequent to May 10, 1872, shall contain the 
name or names of the locators, the date of the location, and such a de¬ 
scription of the claim or claims located, by reference to some natural 
object or permanent monument, as will identify the claim. 

13. The statutes provide that no lode-claim shall be recorded until 
after the discovery of a vein or lode within the limits of the claim 
located, the object of which provision is evidently to prevent the ap¬ 
propriation of presumed mineral ground for speculative purposes to the 
exclusion of bona fide prospectors, before sufficient work has been done 
to determine whether a vein or lode really exists. 

14. The claimant should, therefore, prior to locating his claim, unless 
the vein can be traced upon the surface, sink a shaft, or run a tunnel 
or drift, to a sufficient depth therein to discover aud develop a mineral- 

6579 M L -2 



18 


bearing vein, lode, or crevice; should determine, if possible, the general 
course of such vein in either direction from the point of discovery, by 
which direction he will be governed in marking the boundaries of his 
claim on the surface. His location notice should give the course and 
distance as nearly as practicable from the discovery-shaft on the claim, 
to some permanent, well-known points or objects, such, for instance, as 
stone monuments, blazed trees, the confluence of streams, point of in¬ 
tersection of well known gulches, ravines, or roads, prominent buttes, 
hills, &c., which may be in the immediate vicinity, and which will serve 
to perpetuate and fix the locus of the claim and render it susceptible of 
identification from the description thereof given in the record of loca¬ 
tions in the district, and should be duly recorded. 

15. In addition to the foregoing data, the claimant should state the 
names of adjoining claims, or, if none adjoin, the relative positions of 
the nearest claims; should drive a post or erect a monument of stones 
at each corner of his surface-ground, and at the point of discovery or 
discovery shaft should fix a post, stake, or board, upon which should 
be designated the name of the lode, the name or names of the locators, 
the number of feet claimed, and in which direction from the point of 
discovery; it being essential that the location notice filed for record, 
in addition to the foregoing description, should stare whether the en¬ 
tire claim of fifteen hundred feet is taken on one side of the point of 
discovery, or whether it is partly upon oue and partly upon the other 
side thereof, and in the latter case, how many feet are claimed upon 
each side of such discovery-point. 

16. Within a reasonable time, say twenty days after the location shall 
have been marked on the ground, or such time as is allowed by the local 
laws, notice thereof, accurately describing the claim in manner aforesaid, 
should be filed for record with the proper recorder of the district, who 
will thereupon issue the usual certificate of location. 

17. In order to hold the possessory right to a location made since May 
10,1872, not less than one hundred dollars’ worth of labor must be per¬ 
formed, or improvements made thereon annually until entry shall have 
been made. Under the provisions of the act of Congress approved Jan¬ 
uary 22,1880, the first annual expenditure becomes due and must be per¬ 
formed during the calendar year succeeding that in which the location 
was made. Expenditure made or labor performed prior to the first day 
of January succeeding the date of location will not be considered as a 
part of, or applied upon the first annual expenditure required by law. 
Failure to make the expenditure or perform the labor required will sub¬ 
ject the claim to relocation by any other party having the necessary 
qualifications, unless the original locator, his heirs, assigns, or legal 
representatives have resumed work thereon after such failure and be¬ 
fore such relocation. 

18. The expenditures required upon mining-claims may be made from 
the surface or in running a tunnel for the development of such claims, 
the act of February 11, 1875, providing that where a person or company 
has, or may, run a tunnel for the purpose of developing a lode or lodes 
owned by said person or company, the money so expended in said tun¬ 
nel shall be taken and considered as expended on said lode or lodes, and 
such person or company shall not be required to perform work on the 
surface of said lode or lodes in order to hold the same. 

19 The importance of attending to these details in the matter of loca¬ 
tion, labor, and expenditure will be the more readily perceived when it 
is understood that a failure to give the subject proper attention may 
invalidate the claim. 


19 


TUNNEL RIGHTS. 

20. Section 2323 provides that where a tunnel is run for the develop¬ 
ment of a vein or lode, or for the discovery of mines, the owners of such 
tunnel shall have the right of possession of all veins or lodes within three 
thousand feet from the face of such tunnel on the line thereof, not pre¬ 
viously known to exist, discovered in such tunnel, to the same extent as 
if discovered from the surface; and locations on the line of such tunnel 
of veins or lodes not appearing on the surface, made by other parties 
after the commencement of the tunnel, and while the same is being pros¬ 
ecuted with reasonable diligence, shall be invalid; but failure to prose¬ 
cute the work on the tunnel for six months shall be considered as an 
abandonment of the right to all undiscovered veins or lodes on the line 
of said tunnel. 

21. The effect of this is simply to give the proprietors of a mining 
tunnel run in good faith the possessory right to fifteen hundred feet of 
any blind lodes cut, discovered, or intersected by such tunnel, which 
were not previously known to exist, within three thousand feet from the 
face or point of commencement of such tunnel, and to prohibit other 
parties, after the commencement of the tunnel, from prospecting for and 
making locations of lodes on the line thereof and within said distance of 
three thousand feet, unless such lodes appear upon the surface or were 
previously known to exist. 

22. The term “face,” as used in said section, is construed and held to 
mean the first working-face formed in the tunnel, and to signify the point 
at which the tunnel actually enters cover; it being from this point that 
the three thousand feet are to be counted, upon which prospecting is 
prohibited as aforesaid. 

23. To avail themselves of the benefits of this provision of law, the 
proprietors of a mining tunnel will be required, at the time they enter 
cover as aforesaid, to give proper notice of their tunnel location by erect¬ 
ing a substantial post, board, or monument at the face or point of com¬ 
mencement thereof, upon which should be posted a good and sufficient 
notice, giving the names of the parties or company claiming the tunnel- 
right; the actual or proposed course or direction of the tunnel; the 
height and width thereof, and the course and distance from such face * 
or point of commencement to some permanent well-known objects in the 
vicinity by which to fix and determine the locus in manner heretofore set 
forth applicable to locations of veins or lodes, and at the time of posting 
such notice they shall, in order that miners or prospectors may be en¬ 
abled to determine whether or not they are within the lines of the tun¬ 
nel, establish the boundary lines thereof, by stakes or monuments placed 
along such lines at proper intervals, to the terminus of the three thou¬ 
sand feet from the face or point of commencement of the tunnel, and 
the lines so marked will define and govern as to the specific boundaries 
within which prospecting for lodes not previously known to exist is 
prohibited while work on the tunnel is being prosecuted with reason¬ 
able diligence. 

24. At the time of posting notice and marking out the lines of the 
tunnel as aforesaid, a full and correct copy of such notice of location 
defining the tunnel claim must be filed for record with the mining re¬ 
corder of the district, to which notice must be attached the sworn 
statement or declaration of the owners, claimants, or projectors of 
such tunnel, setting forth the facts in the case; stating the amount ex¬ 
pended by themselves and their predecessors in interest in prosecut¬ 
ing work thereon; the extent of the work performed, and that it is 


20 


bona fide their intention to prosecute work on the tunnel so located 
and described with reasonable diligence for the development of a 
vein or lode, or for the discovery of mine§, or both, as the case may be. 
This notice of location must be duly recorded, and, with the said 
sworn statement attached, kept on the recorder’s tiles for future ref¬ 
erence. 

25. By a compliance with the foregoing much needless difficulty will 
be avoided, and the way for the adjustment of legal rights acquired in 
virtue of said sectiou 2323 will be made much more easy and certain. 

26. This office will take particular care that no improper advantage 
is taken of this provision of law by parties making or professing to 
make tunnel locations, ostensibly for the purposes named in the statute, 
but really for the purpose of monopolizing the lands lying in front of 
their tunnels to the detriment of the mining interests and to the exclu¬ 
sion of bona fide prospectors or miners, but will hold such tunnel claim¬ 
ants to a strict compliance with the terms of the statutes; and a rea- 
sonable diligence on their part in prosecuting the work is one of the 
essential conditions of their implied contract. Negligence or want of 
due diligence will be construed as working a forfeiture of their right to 
all undiscovered veins on the line of such tunnel. 

MANNER OF PROCEEDING TO OBTAIN GOVERNMENT TITLE TO VEIN 

OR LODE CLAIMS. 

27. By section 2325 authority is given for granting titles for mines by 
patent from the Government to any person, association, or corporation, 
having the necessary qualifications as to citizenship aud holding the 
right of possession to a claim in compliance with law. 

28. The claimant is required in the first place to have a correct sur¬ 
vey of his claim made under authority of the surveyor-general of the 
State or Territory in which the claim lies; such survey to show with 
accuracy the exterior surface boundaries of the claim, which bounda¬ 
ries are required to be distinctly marked by monuments on the ground. 
Four plats and one copy of the original field-notes, in each case, will be 
prepared by the surveyor general; one plat and the original field-notes 
to be retained in the office of the surveyor-general, one copy of the 
plat to be given the claimant for posting upon the claim, one plat and 
a copy of the field-notes to be given the claimant for filing with the 
proper register, to be finally transmitted by that officer, with other 
papers in the case, to this office, and one plat to be seut by the surveyor- 
general to the register of the proper land-district to be retained on his 
files for future reference. 

29. The claimant is then required to post a copy of the plat of such 
survey in a conspicuous place upou the claim, together with notice of 
his intention to apply for a patent therefor, which notice will give the 
date of posting, the name of the claimant, the name of the claim, mine, 
or lode; the mining-district and county; whether the location is of 
record, and, if so, where the record may be found ; the number of feet 
claimed along the vein and the presumed direction thereof; the number 
of feet claimed on the lode in each direction from the point of discovery, 
or other well defined place on the claim; the name or names of adjoin¬ 
ing claimants on the same or other lodes; or,if none adjoin, the names 
of the nearest claims, &c. 

30. After posting the said plat and notice upou the premises, the 
claimant will file with the proper register and receiver a copy of such 
plat, aud the field-notes of survey of the claim, accompanied by the affi- 


21 


davit of at least two credible witnesses, that such plat and notice are 
posted conspicuously upon the claim, giving the date and place of such 
posting; a copy of the notice so posted to be attached to, and form a 
part of, said affidavit. 

31. Attached to the field-notes so filed must be the sworn statement 
of the claimant that he has the possessory right to the premises therein 
described, in virtue of a compliance by himself (and by his grantors, it 
he claims by purchase) with the mining rules, regulations, and customs 
of the mining-district, State, or Territory in which the claim lies, and 
with the mining laws of Congress; such sworn statement to narrate 
briefly, but as clearly as possible, the facts constituting such compli¬ 
ance, the origin of his possession, and the basis of his claim to a 
patent. 

32. This affidavit should be supported by appropriate evidence from 
the mining recorder’s office as to his possessory right, as follows, viz: 
Where he claims to be a locator, a full, true, and correct copy of such 
location should be furnished, as the same appears upon the mining 
records; such copy to be attested by the seal of the recorder, or if he 
has no seal, then he should make oath to the same being correct, as 
shown by his records; where the applicant claims as a locator in com¬ 
pany with others who have since conveyed their interests in the lode to 
him, a copy of the original record of location should be filed, together 
with an abstract of title from the proper recorder, under seal or oath as 
aforesaid, tracing the co-locator’s possessory rights in the claim to such 
applicant for patent; where the applicant claims only as a purchaser 
for valuable consideration, a copy of the location record must be filed, 
under seal or upon oath as aforesaid, with an abstract of title certified 
as above by the proper recorder, tracing the right of possession by a 
continuous chain of conveyances from the original locators to the ap¬ 
plicant, also certifying that no conveyances affecting the title to the 
claim in question appear of record in his office other than those set 
forth in the accompanying abstract. 

33. In the event of the mining records in any case having been de¬ 
stroyed by fire or otherwise lost, affidavit of the fact should be made, 
and secondary evidence of possessory title will be received, which may 
consist of the affidavit of the claimant, supported by those of any other 
parties cognizant of the facts realtive to his location, occupancy, posses¬ 
sion, improvements, &c.; and in such case of lost records, any deeds, 
certificates of location or purchase, or other evidence which may be in 
the claimant’s possession, and tend to establish his claim, should be 
filed. 

34. Upon the receipt of these paj>ers the register will, at the expense 
of the claimant (who must furnish the agreement of the publisher to 
hold applicant for patent alone responsible for charges of publication), 
publish a notice of such application for the period of sixty days, in a 
newspaper published nearest to the claim ; and will post a copy of such 
notice in his office for the same period. In all cases sixty days must in¬ 
tervene between the first and the last insertion of the notice in such 
newspaper. When the notice is published in a weekly newspaper ten 
consecutive insertions are necessary; when in a daily newspaper the 
notice must appear in each issue for the required period. 

35. The notices so published and posted must be as full and complete 
as possible, and embrace all the data given in the notice posted upon 
the claim. 

36. Too much care cannot be exercised in the preparation of these 


22 


notices,inasmuch as upon their accuracy and completeness will depend, 
in a great measure, the regularity and validity of the whole proceeding. 

37. The claimant, either at the time of filing these papers with the 
register, or at any time during the sixty days’ publication, is required 
to file a certificate of the surveyor-general that not less than five hun¬ 
dred dollars’ worth of labor has been expended or improvements made 
upon the claim by the applicant or his grantors ; that the plat filed by 
the claimant is correct; that the field-notes of the survey, as filed, fur¬ 
nish such an accurate description of the claim as will, if incorporated 
into a patent, serve to fully identify the premises, and that such refer¬ 
ence is made therein to natural objects or permanent monuments as will 
perpetuate and fix the locus thereof. 

38. It will be the more convenient way to have this certificate indorsed 
by the surveyor-general, both upon the plat and field-notes of survey 
filed by the claimant as aforesaid. 

39. After the sixty days’ period of newspaper publication has expired 
the claimant will file his affidavit, showing that the plat and notice 
aforesaid remained conspicuously posted upon the claim sought to be 
patented during said sixty days’ xmblication, giving the dates. 

40. Upon the filing of this affidavit the register will, if no adverse 
claim was filed in his office during the period of publication, permit the 
claimant to pay for the land according to the area given in the plat and 
field notes of survey aforesaid, at the rate of five dollars for each acre 
and five dollars for each fractional part of an acre, the receiver issuing 
the usual duplicate receipt therefor. The claimant will also make a 
sworn statement of all charges and fees paid by him for publication and 
surveys, together with all fees and money paid the register and receiver 
of the land office; after which the whole matter will be forwarded to the 
Commissioner of the General Land Office and a patent issued thereon 
if found regular. 

41. In sending up the papers in the case the register must not omit 
certifying to the fact that the notice was posted iu his office for the full 
period of sixty days, such certificate to state distinctly when such post¬ 
ing was done and how long continued. 

42. The consecutive series of numbers of mineral entries must be con¬ 
tinued, whether the same are of lode or placer claims. 

43. The surveyor-general must continue to designate all surveyed 
mineral claims as heretofore by a progressive series of numbers, begin¬ 
ning with lot No. 37 in each township ; the claim to be so designated at 
date of filing the plat, field-notes, &c., in addition to the local designa¬ 
tion of the claim; it being required in all cases that the plat and field- 
notes of the survey of a claim must, in addition to the reference to per¬ 
manent objects in the neighborhood, describe the locus of the claim with 
reference to the lines of public surveys by a line connecting a corner of 
the claim with the nearest public corner of the United States surveys, 
unless such claim be on unsurveyed lands at a remote distance from 
such public corner, in which latter case the reference by course and dis¬ 
tance to permanent objects in the neighborhood will be a sufficient des¬ 
ignation by which to fix the locus until the public surveys shall have 
been closed upon its boundaries. 

ADVERSE CLAIMS. 

44. Section 2326 provides for adverse claims, fixes the time within 
which they shall be filed to have legal effect, and prescribes the manner 
of their adjustment. 



23 


45. Said section requires that the adverse claim shall be filed during 
the period of publication of notice; that it must be on the oath of the 
adverse claimant; and that it must show the “nature,” the “bounda¬ 
ries,^ and the “extent” of the adverse claim. 

46. In order that this section of law may be properly carried into 
eflect, the following is communicated for the information of all con¬ 
cerned : 

47. An adverse mining-claim must be filed with the register of the 
same land-office with whom the application for patent was tiled, or in 
his absence with the receiver, and within the sixty days’ period of news¬ 
paper publication of notice. 

48. The adverse notice must be duly sworn to by the person or per¬ 
sons making the same before an officer authorized to administer oaths 
within the land-district, or before the register or receiver; it will fully 
set forth the nature and extent of the interference or conflict; whether 
the adverse party claims as a purchaser for valuable consideration or 
as a locator; if the former, a certified copy of the original location, the 
original conveyance, a duly certified copy thereof, or an abstract of title 
from the office of the proper recorder should be furnished, or if the 
transaction was a mere verbal one he will narrate the circumstances 
attending the purchase, the date thereof, and the amount paid, which 
facts should be supported by the affidavit of one or more witnesses, if 
any were present at the time, and if he claims as a locator he must file 
a duly certified copy of the location from the office of the proper re¬ 
corder. 

49. In order that the “boundaries” and “extent” of the claim may be 
shown, it will be incumbent upon the adverse claimant to file a plat 
showing his entire claim, its relative situation or position with the one 
against which he claims, and the extent of the conflict. This plat must 
be made from an actual survey by a United States deputy surveyor, 
who will officially certify thereou to its correctness; and in addition 
there must be attached to such plat of survey a certificate or sworn 
statement by the surveyor as to the approximate value of the labor per¬ 
formed or imx>rovemeuts made upon the claim by the adverse party or 
his predecessors in interest, and the plat must indicate the position of 
any shafts, tunnels, or other improvements, if any such exist, upon the 
claim of the party opposing the application, and by which party said 
improvements were made. 

50. Upon the foregoing being filed within the sixty days as aforesaid, 
the register, or in his absence the receiver, will give notice in writing 
to both parties to the contest that such adverse claim has been filed, 
informing them that the party who filed the adverse claim will be re¬ 
quired within thirty days from the date of such filing to commence pro¬ 
ceedings in a court of competent jurisdiction to determine the question 
of right of possession, and to prosecute the same with reasonable dili¬ 
gence to final judgment, and that should such adverse claimant fail to 
do so, his adverse claim will be considered waived, and the application 
for patent be allowed to proceed upon its merits. 

51. When an adverse claim is filed as aforesaid, the register or receiver 
will indorse upon the same the precise date of filing, and preserve a 
record of the date of notifications issued thereon; and thereafter all 
proceedings on the application for patent will be suspended, with the 
exception of the completion of the publication and posting of notices 
and plat, and the filing of the necessary proof thereof, until the contro¬ 
versy shall have been adjudicated in court, or the adverse claim waived 
or withdrawn. 


24 


52. The proceedings after rendition of judgment by the court in such 
case are so clearly defined by the act itself as to render it unnecessary 
to enlarge thereon in this place. 

53. The proceedings to obtain patents Tor claims usually called pla¬ 
cers, including all forms of deposit, are similar to the proceedings pre¬ 
scribed for obtaining patents for vein or lode claims; but where said 
placer claim shall be upon surveyed lands, and conform to legal subdi¬ 
visions, no further survey or plat will be required, and all placer mining- 
claims located after May 10,1872, shall conform as nearly as practicable 
with the United States system of public-land surveys and the rectan¬ 
gular subdivisions of such surveys, and no such location shall include 
more than twenty acres for each individual claimant; but where placer- 
claims cannot be conformed to legal subdivisions, survey and plat shall 
be made as on unsurveyed lands. But where such claims are located 
previous to the public surveys, and do not conform to legal subdivisions, 
survey, plat, and entry thereof may be made according to the bounda¬ 
ries thereof, provided the location is in all respects legal. 

54. The proceedings for obtaining patents for veins or lodes having 
already been fully given, it will not be necessary to repeat them here; 
it being thought that careful attention thereto by applicants and the 
local officers will enable them to act understanding^ in the matter and 
make such slight modifications in the notice, or otherwise, as may be 
necessary in view of the different nature of the two classes of claims, 
placer-claims being fixed, however, at two dollars and fifty cents per 
acre, or fractional part of an acre. 

55. By section 2330, authority is given for the subdivision of forty- 
acre legal subdivisions into ten-acre lots, which is intended for the 
greater convenience of miners in segregating their claims both from 
one another and from intervening agricultural lands. 

56. It is held, therefore, that under a proper construction of the law 
these ten-acre lots in mining districts should be considered and dealt 
with, to all intents and purposes, as legal subdivisions, and that an ap- 
plicant having a legal claim which conforms to one or more of these 
ten-acre lots, either adjoining or cornering, may make entry thereof, 
after the usual proceedings, without further survey or plat. 

57. In cases of this kind, however, the notice given of the application 
must be very specific and accurate in description, and as the forty acre 
tracts may be subdivided into ten-acre lots, either in the form of squares 
of ten by ten chains, or of parallelograms five by twenty chains, so long 
as the lines are parallel and at right angles with the lines of the public 
surveys, it will be necessary that the notice and application state spe¬ 
cifically what ten-acre lots are sought to be patented, in addition to the 
other data required in the notice. 

58. Where the ten-acre subdivision is in the form of a square it may 
be described, for instance, as the ik S. E. £ of the S. W. £ of N. W. or, 
if in the form of a parallelogram as aforesaid, it mav be described as 
the “ W. £ of the W. £ of the S. W. £ of the N. W. £ (or the K £ of the 

S. £ of the N. E. £ of the S. E. £) of section-, township-, 

range-,” as the case may be; but, in addition to this description 

of the land, the notice must give all the other data that is required in 
a mineral application, by which parties may be put on inquiry as to the 
premises sought to be patented. The proof submitted with applications 
for claims of this kind must show clearly the character and the extent 
of the improvements upon the premises. 

Inasmuch as the surveyor-general has no duty to perform in connec¬ 
tion with the entry of a placer claim of legal subdivisions, the proof of 





25 


improvements must show tlieir value to be not less than Jive hundred 
dollars and that they were made by the applicant for patent or his 
grantors. 

59. Applicants for patent to a placer-claim, who are also in possession 
of a known vein or lode included therein, must state in their application 
that the placer includes such vein or lode. The published and posted 
notices must also include such statement; and the vein or lode must be 
surveyed and marked upon the plat; the field-notes and plat giving 
the area of the lode claim or claims and the area of the placer separ¬ 
ately. If veins or lodes lying within a placer location are owned by 
other parties, the fact should be distinctly stated in the application for 
patent, and in all the notices. It should be remembered that an appli¬ 
cation which omits to include an application for a known vein or lode 
therein, must be construed as a conclusive declaration that the appli¬ 
cant has no right of possession to the vein or lode. Where there is no 
known lode or vein, the fact must appear by the affidavit of claimant 
and one or more witnesses. 

60. When an adverse claim is filed to a placer application, the pro¬ 
ceedings are the same as in the case of vein or lode claims, already 
described. 

QUANTITY OF PLACER GROUND SUBJECT TO LOCATION. 

61. By section 2330 it is declared that no location of a placer-claim, 
made after July 9, 1870, shall exceed one hundred and sixty acres for 
any one person or association of persons, which location shall conform 
to the United States surveys. 

62. Section 2331 provides that all placer-mining claims located after 
May 10, 1872, shall conform as nearly as practicable with the United 
States system of public surveys and the subdivisions of such surveys, 
and no such locations shall include more than twenty acres for each 
individual claimant. 

63. The foregoing provisions of law are construed to mean that after 
the 9th day of July, 1870, no location of a placer-claim can be made to 
exceed one hundred and sixty acres, whatever may be the number of 
locators associated, together, or whatever the local regulations of the 
district may allow; and that from and after May 10, 1872, no location 
made by an individual can exceed twenty acres, and no location made 
by an association of individuals can exceed one hundred and sixty 
acres, "which location of one hundred and sixty acres cannot be made 
by a less number than eight bona-Jide locators; and no local laws or 
mining regulations can restrict a placer location to less than twenty 
acres, although the locator is not compelled to take so much. 

64. The regulations hereinbefore given as to the manner of marking 
locations on the ground, and placing the same on record, must be ob¬ 
served in the case of placer locations, so far as the same are applicable; 
the law requiring, however, that where placer-claims are upon surveyed 
public lands the locations must hereafter be made to conform to legal 
subdivisions thereof as near as practicable. 

65. With regard to the proofs necessary to establish the possessory 
right to a placer-claim, section 2332 provides that u where such person 
or association, they and their grantors, have held and worked their 
claims for a period equal to the time prescribed by the statute of limita¬ 
tions for mining-claims of the State or Territory where the same may 
be situated, evidence of such possession and working of the claims for 
such period shall be sufficient to establish a right to a patent thereto 
under this chapter, in the absence of any adverse claim.” 


26 


GO. This provision of law will greatly lessen the burden of proof, 
more especially in the case of old claims located many years since, the 
records of which, in many cases, have been destroyed by fire, or lost 
in other ways during the lapse of time, v but concerning the possessory 
right to which all controversy or litigation has long been settled. 

67. When an applicant desires to make his proof of possessory right 
in accordance with this provision of law, you will not require him to 
produce evidence of location, copies of conveyances, or abstracts of 
title, as in other cases, but will require him to furnish a duly certified 
copy of the statute of limitations of mining-claims for the State or Ter¬ 
ritory, together with his sworn statement giving a clear and succinct 
narration of the facts as to the origin of his title, and likewise as to the 
continuation of his possession of the mining-ground covered by his 
application; the area thereof, the nature and extent of the mining that 
has been done thereon; whether there has been any opposition to his 
possession, or litigation with regard to his claim, and, if so, when the 
same ceased; whether such cessation was caused by compromise or by 
judicial decree, and any additional facts within the claimant’s knowl¬ 
edge having a direct bearing upon his possession and bona Jides which 
he may desire to submit in support of his claim. 

68. There should likewise be filed a certificate, under seal of the 
court having jurisdiction of mining cases within the judicial district 
embracing the claim, that no suit or action of any character whatever 
involving the right of possession to any portion of the claim applied 
for is pending, and that there has been no litigation before said court 
affecting the title to said claim or any part thereof for a period equal 
to the time fixed by the statute of limitations for mining-claims in the 
State or Territory as aforesaid, other than that which has been finally 
decided in favor of the claimant. 

69. The claimant should support his narrative of facts relative to his 
possession, occupancy, and improvements by corroborative testimony of 
any disinterested person or persons of credibility who may be cognizant 
of the facts in the case and ar e capable of testifying understanding^ 
in the premises. 

70. It will be to the advantage of claimants to make their proofs as 
full and complete as practicable. 

MILL-SITES. 

71. Section 2337 provides that, “where non-mineral land not contigu¬ 
ous to the vein or lode is used or occupied by the proprietor of such 
vein or lode for mining or milling purposes, such noil-adjacent surface- 
ground may be embraced and included in an application for a patent 
for such vein or lode, and the same may be patented therewith, subject 
to the same preliminary requirements as to survey and notice as are 
applicable to veins or lodes; but no location hereafter made of such 
non-adjacent land shall exceed five acres, and payment for the same 
must be made at the same rate fis fixed by this chapter for the super¬ 
ficies of the lode. The owuer of a quartz-mill or reduction-works, not 
owning a mine in connection therewith, may also receive a patent for 
his mill-site, as provided in this section.” 

72. To avail themselves of this provision of law, parties holding the 
possessory right to a vein or lode, and to a piece of non-mineral land 
not contiguous thereto, for mining or milling purposes, not exceeding 
the quantity allowed for such purpose by section 2337, United States 
Revised Statutes, or prior laws, under which the land was appropriated, 
the proprietors of such vein or lode may file in the proper land-office 
their application for a patent, under oath, in manner already set forth 


27 


herein, .which application, together with the plat and field-notes, may 
include, embrace, and describe, in addition to the vein or lode, such 
non-contiguous mill-site, and after due proceedings as to notice, &c., a 
patent will be issued conveying the same as one claim. 

73. In making the survey in a case of this kind, the lode-claim should 
be described in the plat and field-notes as “Lot No. 37, A,” and the 
mill site as “Lot No.37, B,” or whatever may belts appropriate numer¬ 
ical designation; the course and distance from a corner of the mill- 
site to a corner of the lode-claim to be invariably given in such plat and 
field notes, and a copy of the plat and notice of application for patent 
must be conspicuously posted upon the mill-site as well as upon the 
veiu or lode for the statutory period of sixty days. In making the en¬ 
try no separate receipt or certificate need be issued for the mill-site, 
but the whole area of both lode and mill-site will be embraced in one 
entry, the price being five dollars for each acre and fractional part of an 
acre embraced by such lode and mill-site claim. 

74. In case the owner of a quartz-mill or reduction-works is not the 
owner or claimant of a vein or lode, the law permits him to make ap¬ 
plication therefor in the same manner prescribed herein for mining- 
claims, and after due notice and proceedings, in the absence of a valid 
adverse filing, to enter and receive a patent for his mill-site at said 
price per acre. 

75. In every case there must be satisfactory proof that the land claimed 
as a mill-site is not mineral in character, which proof may, where the 
matter is unquestioned, consist of the sworn statement of the claimant, 
supported by that of one or more disinterested persons capable from 
acquaintance with the land to testify understandingly. 

76. The law expressly limits mill-site locations made from and after 
its passage to five acres. 

77. The registers and receivers will preserve an unbroken consecutive 
series of numbers for all mineral entries. 

PROOF OF CITIZENSHIP OF MINING-CLAIMANTS. 

78. The proof necessary to establish the citizenship of applicants for 
mining-patents must be made in the following manner: In case of an 
incorporated company, a certified copy of their charter or certificate of 
incorporation must be filed, in case of an association of persons unin¬ 
corporated, the affidavit of their duly authorized agent, made upon his 
own knowledge, or upon information and belief, setting forth the resi¬ 
dence of each person forming such association, must be submitted. 
This affidavit must be accompanied by a power of attorney from the 
parties forming such association, authorizing the person who makes 
the affidavit of citizenship to act for them in the matter of their appli¬ 
cation for patent. 

79. In case of an individual or an association of individuals who do 
not appear by their duly authorized agent, you will require the affidavit 
of each applicant, showing whether he is a native or naturalized citi¬ 
zen, when and where born, and his residence. 

80. In case an applicant has declared his intention to become a citi¬ 
zen, or has been naturalized, his affidavit must show the date, place, 
and the court before which he declared his intention, or from which his 
certificate of citizenship issued, and present residence. 

81. The affidavit of the claimant as to his citizenship may be taken be¬ 
fore the register or receiver, or any other officer authorized to admin¬ 
ister oaths within the land-district. If citizenship is established by the 
testimony of disinterested persons, such testimony may be taken at any 


28 

place before any person authorized to administer oaths, and whose offi¬ 
cial character is duly verified. 

APPOINTMENT OF DEPUTY SURVEYORS OF MINING-CLAIMS—CHARGES 

FOR SURVEYS AND PUBLICATIONS—FEES OF REGISTERS AND RE¬ 
CEIVERS, ETC. 

82. Section 2334 provides for the appointment of surveyors of min¬ 
eral claims, authorizes the Commissioner of the General Land Office to 
establish the rates to be charged for surveys and for newspaper publi¬ 
cations, prescribes the fees allowed to the local officers for receiving 
and acting upon applications for mining-patents and for adverse claims 
thereto, &c. 

Under this authority of law the following rates have been established 
as the maximum charges for newspaper publications in mining cases : 

a Where a daily newspaper is designated the charge shall not ex¬ 
ceed seven dollars for each ten lines of space occupied, and where a 
weekly newspaper is designated as the medium of publication five dol¬ 
lars for the same space will be allowed. Such charge shall be accepted 
as full payment for publication in each issue of the newspaper for the 
entire period required by law. 

It is expected that these notices shall not be so abbreviated as to 
curtail the description essential to a perfect notice, and the said rates 
established upon the understanding that they are to be in the usual 
body-type used for advertisements. 

b For the publication of citations in contests or hearings involving 
the character of lands, the charges shall not exceed eight dollars for 
five publications in weekly newspapers, or ten dollars for publications 
in daily newspapers for thirty days. 

83. The surveyors-general of the several districts will, in pursuance 
of said law, appoint in each land-district as many competent deputies 
for the survey of mining-claims as may seek such appointment; it being 
distinctly understood that all expenses of these notices and surveys are 
to be borne by the mining-claimants and not by the United States; the 
system of making deposits for mineral surveys, as required by previous 
instructions, being hereby revoked as regards field-work ; the claimant 
having the option of employing any deputy surveyor within such district 
to do his work in the field. 

84. With regard to the platting of the claim and other office-work in 
the surveyor-general’s office, that officer will make an estimate of the 
cost thereof, which amount the claimant will deposit with any assistant 
United States treasurer, or designated depository, in favor of the United 
States Treasurer, to be passed to the credit of the fund created by 
“ individual depositors for surveys of the public lands,” and file with 
the surveyor-general duplicate certificates of such deposit in the usual 
manner. 

85. The surveyors-general will endeavor to appoint mineral deputy 
surveyors, so that one or more may be located in each mining-district 
for the greater convenience of miners. 

86. The usual oaths will be required of these deputies and their assist¬ 
ants as to the correctness of each survey executed by them. 

The duty of the deputy mineral surveyor ceases when he has exe¬ 
cuted the survey and returned the field-notes and preliminary plat 
thereof with his report to the surveyors-general. He will not be allowed 
to prepare for the mining-claimant the papers in support of an appli¬ 
cation for patent, or otherwise perform the duties of an attorney before 
the land-office in connection with a mining-claim. 


29 


The surveyors-general and local land-officers are expected to report 
any infringement of this regulation to this office. 

87. The law requires that each applicant shall file with the register 
and receiver a sworn statement of all charges and fees paid by him for 
publication of notice and for survey; together with all fees and money 
paid the register and receiver, which sworn statement is required to be 
transmitted to this office, for the information of the Commissioner. 

88. Should it appear that excessive or exorbitant charges have been 
made by any surveyor or any publisher, prompt action will be taken 
with the view of correcting the abuse. 

89. The fees payable to the register and receiver for filing and acting 
upon applications for mineral-land patents are five dollars to each offi¬ 
cer, to be paid by the applicant for patent at the time of filing, and the 
like sum of five dollars is payable to each officer by ap adverse claim¬ 
ant at the time of filing his adverse claim. 

90. All fees or charges under this law may be paid in United States 
currency. 

91. The register and receiver will, at the close of each month, forward 
to this office an abstract of mining-applications filed, and a register of 
receipts, accompanied with an abstract of mineral lands sold, and an 
abstract of adverse claims filed. 

92. The fees and purchase-money received by registers and receivers 
must be placed to the credit of the United States in the receiver’s 
monthly and quarterly account, charging up in the disbursing account 
the sums to which the register and receiver may be respectively enti¬ 
tled as fees and commissions, with limitations in regard to the legal 
maximum. 

HEARINGS TO ESTABLISH THE CHARACTER OF LANDS. 

93. In every case where it becomes necessary under thelaw and existing 
instructions of this office that a hearing be held and testimony taken u 
for the purpose of ascertaining the mineral or agricultural character 
of land, the local officers are directed to cause the evidence to be taken 
before a duly qualified officer whose office is located nearest the land in 
dispute, the distance to be computed by ordinary routes of travel. 

Whenever the local office comes within this rule, the hearing will be 
held before the register and receiver. 

It is intended to cause these hearings to be held, as far as practi¬ 
cable, in such manner as to afford the least inconvenience to persons 
interested. Should it appear, therefore, by written stipulation of all 
the parties that this purpose will best be subserved by the designation 
of any particular officer authorized to administer oaths within the land- 
district in which the land in controversy is situated, the instructions 
herein may be departed from in accordance with such stipulation. 
Such deviation may also be allowed where the officer who would, other¬ 
wise, be designated is an interested party, or where, for other good 
reason, his selection would be improper. 

When the evidence is taken before an officer other than the register 
and receiver, the record should be sealed up, the title of the case in¬ 
dorsed on the envelope, and the whole returned by mail or express to 
the register and receiver. 

On the 27th April, 1880, in accordance with the directions of the Sec¬ 
retary of the Interior this office revoked the withdrawals theretofore 
made, upon general information, that vast tracts of public laud were 
mineral in character, and instructed the local officers, in the absence of 
a specific allegation of the mineral character of land, to allow applica¬ 
tions for agricultural entry thereof upon due proof. 


30 


Hereafter the only tracts of public land that will be withheld from 
entry as agricultural land on account of its mineral character, will be 
such as are returned by the surveyor-general as mineral; and even the 
presumption which is supported by such return may be overcome by 
testimony taken at a regular hearing. 

94. Hearings to determine the character of land, as practically distin¬ 
guished, are of two kinds: 

1st. Where lands which are sought to be entered and patented as 
agricultural are alleged by affidavit to be mineral, or when sought as 
mineral their non-mineral character is alleged. 

The proceedings relative to this class are in the nature of a contest 
between two or more known parties, and the testimony may be taken 
on personal notice of at least ten days, duly served on all parties, or, if 
they cannot be found, then by publication, for thirty days in a news¬ 
paper of general circulation, to be designated by the register of the 
land-office as published nearest to the land in controversy. If publica¬ 
tion is made in a weekly newspaper, the notice must be inserted in five 
consecutive weekly issues thereof. 

2d. When lands are returned as mineral by the surveyor-general. 

When such lands are sought to be entered as agricultural, notice 
must be given by publication for thirty days, as aforesaid. 

95. All notices must describe the land, give the name and address of 
the claimant, the character of his claim, and the time, place, and pur¬ 
pose of the hearing. 

Proof of service of notice, when personal, must consist of either ac¬ 
knowledgment of service indorsed on the citation (which is always 
desirable), or the affidavit of the party serving the same, giving date, 
place, and manner of service, indorsed as aforesaid. 

Proof of publication must be the affidavit of the publisher of the news¬ 
paper, stating the period of publication, giving dates, stating whether 
in a daily or weekly issue, and a copy of the notice so published must 
be attached to, and form a part of the affidavit. 

Proof of posting on the claim must be made by the affidavits of two 
or more persons who state when and where the notice was posted ; that 
it remained so posted during the prescribed period, giving dates, and a 
copy of the notice so posted must be attached to, and made a part of, the 
affidavits. 

Proof of notice is indispensable to the regularity of proceedings and 
must accompany the record in every case. 

The expense of notice must in every case be paid by the parties 
thereto. 

96. At the hearing there must be filed the affidavit of the publisher 
of the paper that the said notice was published for the required time, 
stating when and for how long such publication was made, a printed 
copy thereof to be attached and made a part of the affidavit. 

97. At the hearing the claimants and witnesses will be thoroughly 
examined with regard to the character of the land; whether the same 
has been thoroughly prospected; whether or not there exists within 
the tract or tracts claimed any lode or vein of quartz or other rock in 
place, bearing gold, silver, cinnabar, lead, tin, or Copper, or other val¬ 
uable deposit which has ever been claimed, located, recorded, or worked; 
whether such work is entirely abandoned, or whether occasionally re¬ 
sumed; if such lode does exist, by whom claimed, under what designa¬ 
tion, and in which subdivision of the land it lies; whether any placer 
mine or mines exist upon the land; if so, what is the character thereof— 
whether of the shallow-surface description, or of the deep cement, blue 


31 


lead, or gravel deposits; to what extent mining is carried on when 
water can he obtained, and what the facilities are for obtaining water 
for mining purposes; upon what particular ten acre subdivisions min¬ 
ing has been done, and at what time the land was abandoned for min¬ 
ing purposes, if abandoned ax all. 

98. The testimony should also show the agricultural capacities of the 
land, what kind of crops are raised thereon, and the value thereof; the 
number of acres actually cultivated for crops of cereals or vegetables, 
and within which particular ten acre subdivision such crops are raised; 
also which of these subdivisions embrace his improvements, giving in 
detail the extent and value of his improvements, such as house, barn, 
vineyard, orchard, fencing, etc. 

99. It is thought that bona fide settlers upon lands really agricult¬ 
ural will be able to show, by a clear, logical, and succinct chain of evi¬ 
dence, that their claims are founded upon law and justice; while par¬ 
ties who have made little or no permanent agricultural improvements, 
and who only seek title for speculative purposes, on account of the 
mineral deposits known to themselves to be contained in the land, will 
be defeated in their intentions. 

100. The testimony should be as full and complete as possible ; and, 
in addition to the leading points indicated above, everything of impor¬ 
tance beariug upon the question of the character of the land should be 
elicited at the hearing. 

101. Where the testimony is taken before an officer who does not use 
a seal, other than the register and receiver, the official character of 
such officer must be attested by a clerk of a court of record, and the 
testimony transmitted to the register and receiver, who will thereupon 
examine and forward the same to this office, with their joint opinion as 
to the character of the land as shown by the testimony. 

102. When the case comes before this office, such an award of the _ 
land will be made as the law and the facts may justify; and in cases 
where a survey is necessary to set apart the mineral from the agricult¬ 
ural land in any forty-acre tract, the necessary instructions will be 
issued to enable the agricultural claimant, at his own expense , to have 
the work done, at his option, either by United States deputy, county, 
or other local surveyor; the survey in such case may be executed in 
such manner as will segregate the portion of land actually containing 
the mine, and used as surface-ground for the convenient working 
thereof, from the remainder of the tract, which remainder will be patr 
ented to the agriculturist to whom the same may have been awarded, 
subject, however, to the condition that the land may be entered upon 
bv the proprietor of any vein or lode for which a patent has been issued 
by the United States for the purpose of extracting and removing the 
ore from the same, where found to penetrate or intersect the land so 
patented as agricultural, as stipulated by the mining-act. 

103. Such survey when executed must be properly sworn to by the 
surveyor, either before a notary public, officer of a court of record, or 
before the register or receiver, the deponent’s character and credibility 
to be properly certified to by the officer administering the oath. 

104. Upon the filing of the plat and field-notes of such survey, duly 
sworn to as aforesaid, you will transmit the same to the surveyor-gen¬ 
eral for his verification and approval; who, if be finds the work cor¬ 
rectly performed, will properly mark out the same upon the original 
township plat in his ofiice, and furnish authenticated copies of such 
plat and description both to the proper local land-office and to this 
office, to be affixed to the duplicate and triplicate township-plats re¬ 
spectively. 


32 


105. In cases where a portion of a forty-acre tract is awarded to an 
agricultural claimant and he causes the segregation thereof from the 
mineral portion, as aforesaid, such agricultural portion will not be given 
a numerical designation as in the case of surveyed mineral claims, but 

will simply be described as the “ Fractional-quarter of the- 

quarter of section-, in township-, of range-, merid¬ 
ian, containing-acres, the same being exclusive of the land adjudged 

to be mineral in said forty-acre tract.” 

106. The surveyor must correctly compute the area of such agricult¬ 
ural portion, which computation will be verified by the surveyor gen¬ 
eral. 

107. After the authenticated plat and field-notes of the survey have 
been received from the surveyor-general, this office will issue the nec¬ 
essary order for the entry of the land, and in issuing the receivers re¬ 
ceipt and register’s patent certificate you will invariably be governed 
by the description of the laud given in the order from this office. 

108. The fees for taking testimony and reducing the same to writing 
in these cases will have to be defrayed by the parties in interest. 
Where such testimony is taken before any other officer than the regis¬ 
ter and receiver, the register and receiver will be entitled to no fees. 

109. If, upon a review of the testimony at this office, a ten-acre tract 
should be found to be properly mineral in character, that fact will be 
no bar to the execution of the settler’s legal right to the remaining non¬ 
mineral portion of his claim, if contiguous. 

110. No fear need be entertained that miners will be permitted to 
make entries of tracts ostensibly as mining claims, which are not 
mineral, simply for the purpose of obtaining possession and defraud¬ 
ing settlers out of their valuable agricultural improvements ; it being 
almost an impossibility for such a fraud to be consummated under the 
laws and regulations applicable to obtaining patents for mining claims. 

111. The fact that a certain tract of land is decided upon testimony 
to be mineral in character is by no means equivalent to an award of the 
land to a miner. A miner is compelled by law to give sixty days’ pub¬ 
lication of notice, and posting of diagrams and notices, as a prelimi¬ 
nary step; and then, before he can enter the land, he must show that 
the land yields mineral; that he is entitled to the possessory right 
thereto in virtue of compliance with local customs or rules of miners, 
or by virtue of the statute of limitations; that he or his grantors have 
expended, in actual labor and improvements, an amount of not less than 
five hundred dollars thereon, and that the claim is one in regard to 
which there is no controversy or opposing claim. After all these proofs 
are met, he is entitled to have a survey made at his own cost where a 
survey is required, after which he can enter and pay for the land em¬ 
braced by his claim. 

112. Blank forms for proofs in mineral cases are not furnished by the 
General Land Office. 

Bespectfully, 


n. c. McFarland, 

Commissioner . 


Approved. 


Department of Interior, 

October 31, 1881. 

S. J. KIRKWOOD, 
Secretary. 







33 


Department of the Interior,' 

General Land Office, 

Washington , D. 0., April 27,1880. 

Registers and Receivers, 

U. S. District Land Offices : 

Gentlemen : Your attention is directed to the following copy of letter 
from the Hon. Secretary of the Interior: 


Department of the Intetior, 

Washington, April 22, 1880. 

Sir : I have received your letter of the 16th instant, calling my attention to the 
withdrawals heretofore made of mineral lands under the direction of my predecessor, 
Hon. C. Delano, and setting forth at length the difficulties which arise in the adjust¬ 
ment of homestead and pre-emption claims on account of said withdrawals, and rec¬ 
ommending in view of such difficulties that the “present policy and practice of 
throwing the burden of proof upon agricultural claimants be reversed ; that the ap¬ 
plicant for such entry be required to make the non-mineral affidavit required as afore¬ 
said, and that this be deemed sufficient in absence of the alleged mineral character of his 
claim ; that if a party does allege in proper form that the land is valuable for minerals, 
he should be required to affirmatively prove the fact, instead of in every case, with 
or without such allegation, requiring every settler to prove an expensive negative.” 

You further recommend “ that the withdrawals heretofore made as aforesaid be re¬ 
voked, in order to remove the restriction upon bona fide agricultural settlements, and 
to place such lands in a condition where they can be occupied, purchased, and de¬ 
veloped.” 

I have carefully considered the recommendations made by you for the reasons stated, 
and have to say that they meet my approval. 

You are therefore instructed to so modify the instructions of your office as to con¬ 
form to said recommendations, and you are also instructed to revoke the orders of 
withdrawals mentioned by you, in order that the restrictions thereby made upon ag¬ 
ricultural settlements of the lands may be removed. 

Very respectfullv, 

C. SCHURZ, 

Secretary. 

The Commissioner of the General Land Office. 


The recommendations to the Hon. Secretary, upon which his said ap¬ 
proval was based, are, in brief and in substance, that immense t racts of land 
are now, and, for several years last past, have been, officially designated 
as mineral lands; that as a matter of fact but an exceedingly small part of 
this entire area is valua ble for minerals, but is good agricultural land; that 
these withdrawn lands are subject to entry under the homestead, pre-emp¬ 
tion, and other laws providing for the sale of agricultural lands only after 
a hearing in every case wherein the burden of proof lies upon the agricult¬ 
ural applicant to establish that the tract claimed is non-mineral; that it 
is thus rendered exceedingly easy to cause such applicant great expense, 
delay, and vexation; that the expense, embarrassment, and delay ac¬ 
tually incident to the course hitherto pursued operate to discourage and 
prevent settlements on such lauds; that the timber on these-lands is 
being largely taken on the claim that they are mineral lands; and that the 
vast tracts so designated, and which are capable of supporting many 
thousands of settlers, adding largely to the productions of the country 
and contributing to its better progress, are not only for the most part 
practically reserved from sale under any law, but being so secluded it 
becomes easier for a party to fraudulently enter as agricultural a tract 
which he may discover to be valuable for minerals than for a bona fide 
settler to secure patent for agricultural land. All of such withdrawals 
heretofore made of lands in your district are hereby revoked; and when 
any party applies to enter any tract under any of the laws relating to 
agricultural lands, he will be required to make the usual non-mineral 
affidavit, which, in the absence of any allegation that the land is min¬ 
eral, will be deemed sufficient. Should affidavits be filed with you 

6579 M L- 3 


34 


properly alleging any tract sought to be entered as aforesaid to be 
mineral, you will, after due notice, hold a hearing to determine the 
facts. In such cases the burden of proof will rest upon the party who 
alleges the land to be valuable for minerals, and he must affirmatively 
prove his allegations. 

It is expected that you will exercise all possible prudence and care in 
respect to this matter, and endeavor to carefully and conscientiously 
maintain and advance the purpose of the Department and this office, 
to wit: to enable the public lands which are in fact agricultural to be 
occupied and purchased without oppressive conditions, and to prevent 
lands which are in fact valuable for minerals from being taken except 
under the special laws applicable thereto. 

Very respectfully, 

J. A. WILLIAMSON, 

Commissioner. 


Department of the Interior, 

General Land Office, 
Washington , D. (?., Sept. 23, 1880. 

Begisters and Keceivfrs, 

United States District Land Offices. 

Gentlemen: Hereafter, in case of application beingmade in youroffice 
to enter or select, as agricultural land under any act of Congress other 
than the pre-emption or homestead acts, lands returned as mineral by 
the Surveyor General, you will require the applicant, at date of final 
proof, location, or selection, to publish for thirty days a notice describ¬ 
ing the land applied lor, and giving time and place when such proof will 
be submitted or selection tendered. You will also post in your office a 
copy of the notice for the same period. Proof of publication will con¬ 
sist of the affidavit of the publisher of the newspaper in which the no¬ 
tice was published, and you will furnish your own certificate as to post¬ 
ing in your office. 

The revocation of the withdrawals of lands as mineral by circular of 
April 27, 1880, was made not only because said withdrawals had, in 
many instances, worked great hardship to settlers, but because it is re¬ 
quired by law that homestead and pre eruption claimants shall publish 
notices of their intention to make final proof on their entries, and this 
was thought to afford sufficient protection to all parties; but in case of 
entries under other laws there is no such notice required. This pro¬ 
cedure will apply to cases of application to enter under the town-site, 
desert-land, and timber culture laws; applications to select lands under 
grants to States, railroad and wagon-road companies; and the location 
of the various classes of scrip upon lands which have been returned by 
the Surveyor General as mftieral in character. 

Where, after such publication of notice has been regularly made, no 
affidavits alleging the mineral character of the land have been filed with 
you, you will allow the entry, selection, or location upon the filing of a 
proper non-mineral affidavit. If such mineral affidavits shall have been 
filed, you w r ill proceed with a hearing, as directed bv the circular of April 
27, 1880. 

Acknowledge receipt hereof. 

Very respectfully, 


J. A. WILLIAMSON, 

Commissioner. 



35 


Department of the Interior, 

General Land Office, 
Washington , I). 6\, May 9, 1882. 

To Registers and Receivers, 

U. S. District Land Offices. 

Gentlemen : Your attention is directed to the provisions of the fol¬ 
lowing act of Congress, approved April 26, 1882: 

AN ACT to amend section twenty-three hundred and twenty-six of the Revised Statutes, in regard to 
mineral lands, and for other purposes. 

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America 
tn Congress assembled: That the adverse claim required by sectiou twenty-three hun¬ 
dred and twenty-six ot the Revised Statutes may be verified by the oath of any duly 
authorized agent or attorney-in-fact of the adverse claimant cognizant of the facts 
stated ; and the adverse claimant, if residing or at the time being beyond the limits 
of the district wherein the claim is situated, may make oath to the adverse claim be¬ 
fore the elerk of any court of record of the United States or the State or Territory 
where the adverse claimant may then be, or before any notary public of such State 
or Territory. 

Sec. 2. That applicants for mineral patents, if residing beyond the limits of the 
district wherein the claim is situated, may make any oath or affidavit required for 
proof of citizenship before the clerk of any court of record, or before any notary pub¬ 
ic of any State or Territory. 


1. It will be observed that the act is not retroactive, and hence cannot 

affect proceedings had prior to its approval; where citizenship, however, 
has not been proven, it may be established as provided by section two 
of this act. * 

2. Where an agent or attorney-in-fact verifies the adverse claim, he 
must distinctly swear that he is such agent or attorney, and accompany 
his affidavit by proof thereof. 

3. 1 he agent or attorney-in-fact must make the affidavit in verifica¬ 
tion of the adverse claim within the land-district where the claim is sit¬ 
uated. 


Very respectfully, 


N. 0. MCFARLAND, 

Commissioner. 


Department of Interior, 

May 26, 1882. 

Approved: 

H. M. TELLER, 

. Secretary. 


Department of the Interior, 

General Land Office, 
Washington , D. <7., September 22, 1882. 

To Registers and Receivers, and Surveyors General. 

Gentlemen: The following regulations are promulgated as amend¬ 
atory of circular of October 31, 1881, entitled “United States Mining 
Laws and Regulations Thereunder,” and have special reference to appli¬ 
cations for patents to placer claims. They are to be considered in con¬ 
nection with paragraphs 53 to 60 of regulations contained in said cir¬ 
cular: 

1. The first care in recognizing an application for patent upon a placer 
claim must be exercised in determining the exact classification of the 



36 


lands. To this end the clearest evidence of which the case is capable 
should be presented. If the claim be all placer ground that fact must 
be stated in the application and corroborated by accompanying proofs. 
If of mixed placers and lodes it should be so set out, with a description 
of all known lodes situated within the boundaries of the claim. A spe¬ 
cific declaration, such as is required by section 2333, Be vised Statutes, 
must be furnished as to each lode intended to be claimed. All other 
known lodes are, by the silence of the applicant, excluded by law from 
all claim by him, of whatsoever nature, possessory or otherwise. 

2. Section 2395, Eevised Statutes, (subdivision 7,) requires the sur¬ 
veyor to “note in his field-books the true situation of all mines, salt licks, 
salt springs and mill seats which come to his knowledge;” also “all 
water courses over which the lines he runs may pass.” It further re¬ 
quires him to “note the quality of the lands.” These descriptive notes 
are required by subdivision 8 to be incorporated in the plat by the Sur¬ 
veyor General. 

3. If these duties have been performed, the surveys will furnish a 
reasonable guide to the district officers and to claimants in prosecuting 
their applications. But experience has shown that great neglect has 
resulted from inattention to the law in this respect, and the regular plats 
are of \ery little value in the matter. It will, therefore, be required in 
the future that deputy surveyors shall, at the expense of the parties, 
make full examination of all placer claims, and duly note the facts as 
specified in the law, stating the quality and composition of the soil, the 
kind and amount of timber and other vegetation, the locus and size of 
streams, and such other matters as may appear upon the surface of the 
claims. This examination should include the character and extent of all 
surface and underground workings, whether placer or lode, for mining 
purposes. 

4. Iu addition to these data, which the law requires to be shown in all 
cases, the deputy should report with reference to the proximity of cen¬ 
ters of trade or residence; also of well known systems of lode deposit or 
of individual lodes. He should also report as to the use or adaptability 
of the claim for placer mining; whether water has been brought upon it 
in sufficient quantity to mine the same, or whether it can be procured for 
that purpose; and finally, what works or expenditures have been made 
by the claimant or his grantors for the development of the claim, and 
their situation and location with respect to the same as applied for. 

5. This examination should be reported by the deputy uuder oath to 
the Surveyor General, and duly corroborated; and a copy of the same 
should be furnished with the application for patent to the claim, consti¬ 
tuting a part thereof, and included in the oath of the applicant. 

6. In case of a proposed claim for lands not yet surveyed, the forego¬ 
ing regulations will govern the application for survey. 

7. In controversies hereafter to be determined respecting the mineral 
value of lands, their value for all purposes, whether agricultural or 
municipal, or as seats for towns, will be considered, without reference to 
the decisions heretofore made in particular cases. No decisiou finally 
executed, however, will be reconsidered under this modification. 

8. No application by an association of persons for patent to a placer 
claim will be allowed to embrace more thau one hundred and sixty acres, 
nor will any application be entertained that embraces more than one 
location. 

9. Applications awaiting entry, whether published or not, must be 
made to conform to these regulations, both with respect to amount of 
ground and examination as to the character of the land. Entries already 


37 


made will be suspended for examination by the Commissioner, and such 
additional proofs as may be deemed necessary in each case will be de¬ 
manded. 

Very respectfully, 


Department of the Interior, 

Sept, 23, 1882. 

Approved: 


N. o. McFarland, 

Commissioner, 


H. M. TELLER, 

Secretary, 


Department of the Interior, 

General Land Office, 
Washington , D. <7., December 9, 1882. 


To Registers and Receivers, and Surveyors General. 

Gentlemen: By direction, contained in letter dated the 7th inst., 
from the honorable Secretary of the Interior, paragraph No. 8 of the 
preceding circular of September 22, 1882, relating to placer mining 
claims, has been amended so as to read as follows: 


8. No application by an association of persons for patent to a placer claim will be 
allowed to embrace more than one hundred and sixty aeres; and not less than five 
hundred dollars’ worth of work must be shown to have been expended upon or for 
the benefit of each separate location embraced in such application. If an individual 
becomes the purchaser aud possessor of several separate claims of twenty acres each 
or less, he may be permitted to include in his application for patent any number of 
such claims contiguous to each other, not exceeding in the aggregate one hundred 
and sixty acres; but upon or for the benefit of each original claim or location so em¬ 
braced, he or his grantors must have expended the sum of five hundred dollars in 
improvements. 


You are instructed to observe this modification of my said Circular of 
September 22, 1882. 

Very respectfully, 

N. C. MCFARLAND, 

Commissioner, 


Department of the Interior, 

General Land Office, 
Washington , D. (7., November 16, 1882. 

To United States Surveyors General. 

Gentlemen: The regulations of this office require that the plats and 
field-notes of surveys of mining claims shall disclose all conflicts be¬ 
tween such surveys aud prior surveys, giving the areas of conflicts. 

The rule has not been properly observed in all cases. Your atten¬ 
tion is invited to the following particulars which should be observed in 
the survey of every mining claim: 

1. The exterior boundaries of the claim should be represented on the 
plat of survey and in the field notes. 

2. The intersection of the lines of the survey with the lines of con¬ 
flicting prior surveys should be noted in the field-notes and represented 
upon the plat. 




38 


3. Conflicts with unsurveyed claims, where the applicant for survey 
does not claim the area in conflict, should be shown by actual survey. 

4. The total area of the claim embraced hy the exterior boundaries 
should be stated, and also the area in conflict with each intersecting 
survey, substantially as follows: 

Acres, 


Total area of claim.... 10.50 

Area in conflict wirh Hnrvey No. 302. 1.56 

Area in conflict with survey No. 948. 2.33 

Area in conflict with Mountain Maid lode miniug claim, unsurveyed. 1.48 


In a number of instances that have come to the attention of this 
office the total area in conflict has been given but not the area in con¬ 
flict with each intersecting claim. The portion of the plat not in con¬ 
flict has been colored and the remainder left uncolored. The language 
of the held notes has been such as to convey the idea that the conflicting 
areas were excluded from the claim, whereas such was not the intention. 
It does not follow that because mining surveys are required to exhibit 
all conflicts with prior surveys the areas of conflict are to be excluded. 
The field notes and plat are made a part of the application for patent, 
and care should be taken that the description does not inadvertently 
exclude portions intended to be retained. It is better that the applica¬ 
tion for patent should state the portions to be excluded in express terms. 
A survey executed as in the example given will enable the applicant for 
patent to exclude such conflicts as may seem desirable. For instance, 
the conflict with survey No. 302 and with the Mountain -Maid lode 
claim might be excluded and that with survey No. 948 included. 

Your attention is also invited to another matter. The practice of col¬ 
oring portions of survev s, leaving other portions uucolored, is open to the 
same objections that have been stated concerning the field-notes. In the 
future no coloring will be used. 

Very respectfully, 

N. C. McFARLAND, 

Commissioner. 


Department of the Interior, 

General Land Office, 
Washington , D. C\, June 8,1883. 

To Registers and Receivers and Surveyors General. 

Gentlemen: The following additional regulations are promulgated 
as amendatory of circular of October 31, 1881, entitled u United States 
Mining Laws and Regulations Thereunder,” which, except as herein 
modified, will remain in full force: 

1. No application will be received, or entry allowed, which embraces 
more than one lode location. 

2. A party who is not an applicant for patent under section 2325, 
Revised Statutes, or the assignee of such applicant, is not entitled to 
make entry under said section, and in no case will the name of such 
party be inserted in the certificate of entry. This regulation has no 
reference to proceedings under section 232G. 

3. Any party applying to make entry as trustee must disclose fully the 
nature of the trust and the name of the cestui que trust; and such 
trustee, as well as the beneficiaries, must furnish satisfactory proof of 
citizenship; and the names of beneficiaries, as well as that of the trustee, 
must be inserted in the final certificate of entry. 







39 


4. Where an adverse claim has been filed and suit thereon commenced 
within the statutory period, and final judgment determining the right of 
possession rendered in favor of the applicant, it will not be sufficient for 
him to file with the register a certificate of the clerk of the court, set¬ 
ting forth the facts as to such judgment, but he must, before he is allowed 
to make entry, file a certified copy of the judgment, together with the 
other evidence required by section 2320, Revised Statutes. 

5. Where such suit has been dismissed, a certificate of the clerk of the 
court to that effect, or a certified copy of the order of dismissal, will be 
sufficient. 

0. In no case will a relinquishment of the ground in controversy, or 
other proof, filed with the Register or Receiver, be accepted in lieu of 
the evidence required in paragraphs 4 and 5 

7 Where an adverse claim has been tiled, but no suit commenced 
against the applicant for patent within the statutory period, a certificate 
to that effect by the clerk of the State court having jurisdiction in the 
case, and also by the clerk of the circuit court of the United States for 
the district in which the claim is situated, will be required. 

8. Possessory title to a lode claim held and worked for a period equal to 
the time prescribed by the statute of limitations for mining claims of the 
State or Territory where the same may be situated, may, in the absence 
of any adverse claim, be established in the same manner as now allowed 
in placer claims, and indicated generally in paragraphs 67, 68 and 69, 
of the circular hereby amended. 

9. No entry will be allowed until the Register has satisfied himself, 
by a careful examination, that proper proofs have been filed upon all the 
points indicated in official regulations in force, and that they show a 
sufficient bona fide compliance with the laws and such regulations. A 
strict observance of this regulation will be required. 

L. HARRISON, 

Acting Commissioner. 

July 6, 1883. 


Approved: 


H. M. TELLER, 

/Secretary. 


Department of 'jhe Interior, 

General Land Office, 
Washington , I). 0., December 20, 1883. 


Register and Receiver, 

Leadville , Colorado. 

Where consolidated application filed prior to receipt by you of circular 
of July 6, entry may be allowed on filing satisfactory proof of five hun¬ 
dred dollars 7 improvements on each lode claim, the application being 
otherwise regular. 

L. HARRISON, 

Acting Commissioner. 


Appro ved: 


H. M. TELLER, 

/Secretary. 





40 


Department of the Interior, 

General Land Office, 

Washington , D. C., December 20, 1883. 

To Register and Receiver, 


Gentlemen : Inclosed find copy of telegraphic order this day ap¬ 
proved by the Hon. Secretary of the Interior. These instructions are 
intended to apply to all cases where an application for patent embracing 
more than one lode location had been filed prior to the receipt of circular 
of this office approved July^ 6, 1883. 

In regard to similar cases in your office you will be governed by the 
rule therein stated. 

Yery respectfully, L. HARRISON, 

Acting Commissioner. 


Department of the Interior, 

General Land Office, 

Washington , D. C ., January 14, 1884. 

Registers and Receivers. 

Gentlemen: Your attention is called to the following extract from 
the decision of the Hon. Secretary of the Interior, in case of Charles K. 
Miner, claimant of the Spencer Lode, vs. J. G. Marriott et al ., claimants 
of the Tabor Lode, dated January 4, 1884: 

Section 2325 of the Revised Statutes requires, among other things, newspaper pub¬ 
lication for the period of sixty days, as notice of application for mineral patent. It 
also provides that “if no adverse claim shall have been filed with the register and 
receiver of the proper laud office at the expiration of the sixty days of publication, 
it shall be assumed that the applicant is entitled to a patent, upon the payment to 
the proper officer of five dollars per acre, and that no adverse claim exists.” 

Section 2326 prescribes the method of procedure “ where an adverse claim is filed 
during the period of publication.” 

For the purpose of deciding the question raised by the appeal, it is only necessary 
to apply the provisions of law above cited to the facts relative to publication, as dis¬ 
closed by the record. 

These are found to be as follows: The first publication for the Tabor lode was, as 
already stated, on the 1st of June, 1882. The adverse claim of Miner was tiled on the 
3d of August, 1882. 

Excluding, in accordance with a long-established rule of the Department, the first 
day, we find the 3d of August to be the 63d day of publication. 

An apparently plain and simple proposition is thus presented for consideration. 

The law requires that an adverse, to be effective, must be filed within the sixty days 
of publication. Miner’s adverse claim was not filed until the sixty-third flay. Was 
it filed within the period prescribed by the law, and has the adverse claimant a legal 
status as such ? 

This would admit of no discussion except for the following facts: This Department 
has held for a number of years (certainly since 1874) that where publication is made 
in a weekly newspaper, ten insertions are essential in order to show compliance with 
the law requiring sixty days’ publication. In such cases the tenth issue falls on the 
sixty-tliird day after the first. In view of this ruling of the Department, your office 
in October, 1879, promulgated a decision or order containing the following: “The 
last, or tenth, insertion being essential, it follows that adverse claims may be filed 
until the expiration of the day upon which the last issue of such weekly publication 
is made.” . 

This rule has since been followed by your office, and you therefore recognize as legal 
and valid the adverse claim of Miner filed ou the day of tenth issue of paper contain¬ 
ing publication, i. e., on the sixty-third day. In my opinion, the practice of your 
office referred to is not necessary as a logical result of the rule requiring ten insertions 
in a weekly paper, nor is it consistent with the law which prescribes the time within 
which an adverse claim may be filed. 

Section 2325 of the Revised Statutes specifically fixes sixty days as the period of 
publication, and says “if no adverse claim shall have been filetL * * * at the 





41 


expiration of the sixty days of publication it shall he assumed that the applicant is 
entitled to a patent,” &c. The regulation requiring ten publications, (in a weekly 
paper,) thus in fact making the period sixty-three days instead of sixty, does not 
alter the law as to sixty days for the filing of an adverse. 

The regulation has its reason in the fact that in no other way can the law requiring 
sixty days’ publication be complied with. Nine issues of a weekly paper would not 
cover the required period. It is true that the tenth insertion carries the publication 
three days beyond the legally required sixty days, yet, for the purpose of meeting the 
requirement of law, ten insertions are in fact necessary, since the continuity for sixty 
days can be preserved only by the tenth publication which falls on the sixty-third 
day after the first. It is also true that tho applicant cannot proceed to complete his 
entry until after the tenth publication, but this is because it is essential as proof of 
sixty days’ publication. These reasons do not apply to an adverse claimant, and his 
acts are not controlled thereby. He has the plain letter of the law for his guide. 
Kis course is clear and his duty plain. He has sixty days on any one of which he may 
file his adverse claim. 

If he fails to file within the sixty days of publication prescribed by the law he is 
barred. 

So far as he is concerned the question is one of very simple computation. 

It would be equally plain as to the applicant except for the reasons herein given, 
and which do not control in considering the rights either legal or equitable of an ad¬ 
verse claimant. 

******* 

So far as the case under consideration is concerned, however, your decision that the 
adverse claim was properly received, and therefore dismissing the appeal, is affirmed. 
The rule of this decision should not operate to interfere with or take away any rights 
acquired under the law as it has heretofore been construed by your office. Though 
that construction is, in my opinion, clearly erroneous, such fact does not render ille¬ 
gal any acts which have been performed in accordance with and pursuant to that 
construction or interpretation. Until a rule is changed it has all the force of law, 
and acts done under it while it is in force must be regarded as legal. This view will 
govern you in the consideration of any similar cases which may arise. 

After the receipt of this circular at your office, you will be required 
to observe strictly the above ruling of the Department. 

Very respectfully, 

N. C. MCFARLAND, 

Commissioner . 

6579 M L- 4 


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